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“Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

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Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#221

Post by justoreply »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #118
anilakar wrote: post #57

Our company just got a warning that we have sixty days to release something on Play or have our developer console account closed. The email made it pretty clear that Google wants developers to continuously push new versions to customers. We have no new features nor bug fixes in backlog. There is nothing to update. The only purpose of our software is to control hardware that our company makes. Nobody uses it for fun,…

"The email made it pretty clear that Google wants developers to continuously push new versions to customers." Why. It is not Google's software. Shouldn't that decision be left to the software author.

Because they want developers to use the latest version of their API. And as a user it is a good thing, as the API is getting more restrictive and privacy focused

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#222

Post by Timon3 »

theamk wrote: post #150
godelski wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if we talked about other computers like we talked about phones. It's just so weird - you can only install programs from our approved package manager - if you make any transactions through your program, we'll take a 30% cut - you can't be access those files, you're not root - you got root?! We're going to fucking sue you (yeah, I know about the PS3...) - you can't change these settings - you can't access that…

This only applies to iPhones, most Androids are rootable, and even un-rooted, it is trivial (I am mean really trivial, like 3 clicks) to install programs from outside of app store. My opinion is anyone who owns iPhone knows what they sign up for, and does not care. So I don't get your rant. - Do you own iPhone? Well, you've made your bed, now lie in it. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of phones on the market -…

> This only applies to iPhones, most Androids are rootable, [...]

Except that this breaks SafetyNet, which makes a bunch of applications important for my daily life (e.g. my banking app) suddenly no longer work. Sure, clever people find workarounds for this issue, but they are not supposed to work. They are treated as vulnerabilities that are actively "fixed", so it's a cat-and-mouse game that can break with any update. This means I effectively have the choice between a device I control, and a device that's useful in my daily life, I can't have both.

This is obviously a much worse situation than on desktop computers.

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#223

Post by arp242 »

b0ner_t0ner wrote: post #192
_fat_santa wrote: post #4

Why does it seem like Google is trying to kill Android, or at least their app ecosystem. - They now require a DUNS number to submit an app - You now need 10-15 people to "QA" your app before submitting - Now this. It just seems that Google wants the "major" apps and nothing else.

My problem with Google Play is the obvious fake reviews, there is no way Microsoft has 4+ ratings for most of their apps. It's too easy to buy a wave of 5-star reviews.

I'd be highly surprised if Microsoft was buying reviews.

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#224

Post by esperent »

butz wrote: post #60

Very sad state of affairs on Play Store. Independent app developers are clearly not welcome there. I already pulled all my hobby apps from Play Store, just to sleep soundly at night without thinking how to pass yet another app review after update, when policies keep getting more ridiculous each time. To the point where one update finally was pushed to the store, and another got the same issue again. The biggest quest…

This sucks for developers, but it's also really bad for open source. The only way to get notifications working without arbitrary limits for several open source messaging apps is to run your own notifications server and then you'll need to build your own copy of the Android app for whatever service you're running.

Examples:

1. Rocketchat, which uses this as a sales funnel (I strongly recommend against using it for this reason)

2. Mattermost allows you to use their free notifications server but without any uptime guarantees unless you pay. I haven't used it enough to know if this is a problem in practice.

3. Nextcloud is pretty great, no limitations on using their notification server, but it would be problematic if you require a high degree of privacy and need a fully private setup

4. Dishonorable mention: Odoo who don't even provide source code or a license to build their mobile app yourself

Setting up a notifications server takes some technical work, but nothing too crazy.

But then, you need to get your private app published in the Play Store. Impossible. Brick wall for most people.

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#226

Post by stavros »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #208
jimmaswell wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who actually asked for this? It's been nothing but a pointless nuisance to me as a user. Samsung complains at me if I choose to give an app persistent GPS access, in the rare occasion it even lets me. I want my programs to do as much as possible, not be hamstrung.

There’s a few apps where I want to grant broad permissions from the outset, but generally that’s not what I want, especially when it comes to photos, contacts, etc. In most cases there’s no benefit whatsoever to granting e.g. access to my entire photo library and it seriously irritates me to see apps insist on said access. In fact if I had my way, I’d never see a prompt and permissions would default to “only selected…

I gave Telegram access to only a few photos, and it pops up the "give me more access" dialog EVERY SINGLE TIME I open it. Not when I want to send a photo, every time I open the app!

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#227

Post by llm_nerd »

mminer237 wrote: post #210
llm_nerd wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a Google developer console/play account for a decade+. Recently had to send some proof of identity stuff in their anti-spam thing -- which I did because who knows one day I might care about the account -- but I haven't released anything there in eight years. No threats of closing my account. Did they instead just warn that they would unpublish the app? Google does have minimum API levels that they slowly mov…

No, I got the same message. It was very clear that I had 60 days to publish a new app or an update or my entire developer account would be closed and I would have to apply and pay all over again. https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

Ah, interesting. I guess it's that I did have a popular app on there (which was then removed after I completed a technology sale) and my details are verified.

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#228

Post by cgriswald »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #214
Marsymars wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> App stores need better search and filtering. I used to think this, but then I just abandoned their search and now use Kagi. (I use the !gp bang for the Play Store, no App Store bang seems to exist.) I can't imagine ever going back to native store searches now that they're full of ads.

Can Kagi filter apps by things like what permissions they require or by their monetisation model? We need more than a search engine. We should be able to query the app store database using _all_ the properties that the app store knows. On top of that we should be able to ask LLM style questions about the functionality of the app.

I’ve had some luck asking ChatGPT “How does AppX make money?” I’ve also asked it to find me games based on genre, style, and control constraints “without ads or with removable ads” and it does a fair job.

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#229

Post by immibis »

BMorearty wrote: post #103
arghwhat wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Sure, Google is making sure app vendors comply with regulations in specialized industries. /s

If Google doesn't do what vendors in specialized industries want, they'll stop using it. Does it want customers?

Re: “Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

#230

Post by immibis »

izacus wrote: post #185
csomar wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "Bank of 4merica" shouldn't have been there in the first place. Especially for a store that is running billions of $$ worth of transactions. This is Google, again, pushing a cost that it has to pay to external actors.

So they should just outright ban the apps of the developer in the article? :P

They should ban - and file criminal charges against - the developer who uploads a Bank of America app but isn't Bank of America. They should not do that against developers who upload their own non-fraudulent apps. Why is this concept difficult to understand?

Asking seriously. I don't get why these types of questions even come up. Google already claims to manually review all apps, so they know the Bank of America app isn't Bank of America, so why is it even allowed on the store? Why would anyone think it's hard for them to draw a line that would exclude fake Bank of America apps, but wouldn't exclude normal apps? I could understand the concern if it was a completely unmoderated store, or if the only tools available were some kind of keyword filtering. But that is not the case.

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