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Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

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Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#71

Post by Ostrogodsky »

duhast wrote: post #34
ComradePhil wrote: post #25

I'm genuinely interested in hearing from people who believe that Apple and Google should have a monopoly on deciding what apps people can run on their phones. In case of Google's Android, one can still install third party App Stores, even they take away auto-updates and such. Apple is a much worse offender. In either case, why does anyone think that they should have a monopoly there and why is nothing being done to f…

How would you realistically solve this problem? Part of what makes these platforms so attractive to the end user is in fact app curation. Strict control over APIs and power usage, all sorts of minimum standards and mandatory integrations are contributing enormous value to these ecosystems.

I coulda/sorta buy this argument for Apple(though I am pretty sure that is not the main reason people buy Iphones) , but for Android?? Curation??? Hahahahhahahahahaha

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#72

Post by Nextgrid »

notreallyserio wrote: post #48
justin_oaks wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it interesting that people blame the engineers when they're the bottom of the hierarchy. It's their bosses that prioritize their work, decide whether their work is good enough, and decide whether to fix something that's broken. It's not the individual engineers who decide whether the company will have a culture of helping users and/or app developers, or treating them like resources to exploit. It's not the ind…

Engineers at Google can get a job anywhere. They choose to work for Google despite building and maintaining a substandard product. Google engineers have a lot of leverage. I refuse to pretend that they can't influence product quality.

Google engineers potentially can get a job anywhere but may not want to for multiple reasons:

1) The pay, plain and simple.

2) Google-scale problems are a very specific kind of problem that may not apply to other companies. I'm sure most of the engineers would be competent at dealing with smaller companies' problems, but maybe they don't want to?

The interviewing process already selects for low-level LeetCode-style problems and I guess the ones who make it through must enjoy it. You're unlikely to have a need for those kinds of problems in smaller businesses where most of the work is CRUD and connecting APIs together.

3) At such a large company you could lay back, chill and most likely still fly under the radar while enjoying the money. This might be more difficult in smaller companies who are more demanding.

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#73

Post by duhast »

foxfluff wrote: post #56
duhast wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you realistically solve this problem? Part of what makes these platforms so attractive to the end user is in fact app curation. Strict control over APIs and power usage, all sorts of minimum standards and mandatory integrations are contributing enormous value to these ecosystems.

I would allow fair competition and let the user choose. You don't need a monopoly to have curated storefronts. For example, GOG is curated and if I don't like their curation, I can look at Steam or a plethora of other stores. F-Droid has its own kind of curation, which I prefer to Google's curation; it gives me a decent guarantee that I'm looking at free software, and antifeatures are usually hilighted. However, I do…

Users are consistently choosing locked down Apple ecosystem over more open Android. How are you going to explain this?

You also need to realise that you’re not an average user. You’re in 0.0001% of the population when it comes to use of technology and your preferences might not reflect the average Joe.

Most phones would quickly fill up with apps doing malware, phishing, spam, crypto mining and DDoS attacks.

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#74

Post by sdoering »

xeromal wrote: post #65
jsnell wrote: post #41

So, the relevant bit from the Play Store policy documents is probably: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ... That policy seems very reasonable. Is the policy being misapplied here? Hard to say, since it's describing the spirit of the rules rather than an exhaustive list of specific violations. It doesn't seem that anything in the title would be misleading. But the original title is kind of i…

Yeah, once I caught gist of what was bothering them, I would've just nuked Libre from the title and all translations. Just call it the Card Wallet and be done with it.

This would be practical - but what about companies like "Free Now" that are (at least currently) seemingly allowed to keep operating under that name in the Play store.

Why delete something from the name that is actually transporting information for the user just because Google arbitrarily decides that for this rue the mistranslation comprises a rule break while other apps (with probably bigger marketing spend on Google) are allowed to keep "Free" in the name.

Imho is not the rules per se. It is the mistranslation and also the arbitrary enforcement that reminds me personally of stories by Kafka (the author, not the tech).

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#75

Post by quambene »

johnyzee wrote: post #69
cocoflunchy wrote: post #7

I have the same experience with the Google Play Store. For all the complaints people have about the Apple App Store, at least their reviewers are human and you can discuss things with them. And they block updates but don't remove the app without warning! My experience with the Google Play store: I get an email on a friday night after working hours stating that the app of my company was removed after a routine check a…

I swear I am not a Google plant. I JUST went through the same process the OP did (literally yesterday). The Play reviewer took down the app because they thought they needed sign-in information to test it (like the OP). However, this was based on a misunderstanding of some menu item in the app - the app, in fact, is perfectly usable without signing in. I replied to the original email I had received about the problem,…

Google did recently update its review process. I was complaining about its previous review process for 10 months at least. It's a little better now.

Previously, an app was suspended without any warning. You even couldn't comply with their requirements neither because they would deactivate access to the app in question in Google Play Console. Your only chance was an appeals request. Your app still suspended in the meantime which could be months. And you might loose all ratings, reviews, and downloads of your app.

My feedback at this time was:

> An easy but important improvement in Google Play:

1.) Don't suspend and remove the complete package id from Google Play, but instead just prevent the specific app update from publishing

2.) If the app update doesn't comply with Google's policies, then give developers the opportunity to fix that

3.) Developer submits a new app update which does comply

4.) App update gets approved by Google

5.) Google is happy and developers are happy

Which might be the case now. At least in Germany.

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#76

Post by foxfluff »

duhast wrote: post #73
foxfluff wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would allow fair competition and let the user choose. You don't need a monopoly to have curated storefronts. For example, GOG is curated and if I don't like their curation, I can look at Steam or a plethora of other stores. F-Droid has its own kind of curation, which I prefer to Google's curation; it gives me a decent guarantee that I'm looking at free software, and antifeatures are usually hilighted. However, I do…

Users are consistently choosing locked down Apple ecosystem over more open Android. How are you going to explain this? You also need to realise that you’re not an average user. You’re in 0.0001% of the population when it comes to use of technology and your preferences might not reflect the average Joe. Most phones would quickly fill up with apps doing malware, phishing, spam, crypto mining and DDoS attacks.

> Users are consistently choosing locked down Apple ecosystem over more open Android. How are you going to explain this?

Not true in my part of the world. I don't know, maybe people over there see iPhone as a status symbol? Or just think it's the best phone? Or maybe they trust Apple more than they trust G. I'm glad they can make the choice!

> You also need to realise that you’re not an average user. You’re in 0.0001% of the population when it comes to use of technology and your preferences might not reflect the average Joe.

I fail to see how this is relevant to the discussion.

> Most phones would quickly fill up with apps doing malware, phishing, spam, crypto mining and DDoS attacks.

I disagree. Most users would consistently choose to stick to a locked down store they trust; in your part of the world, perhaps that'd be the Apple store if they trust locked down ecosystems as much as you think. But in a world where the platform's blessed app store isn't a monopoly, they'd have other alternatives to choose from.

A small fraction of users would be tricked into installing malware, but it's not as if they were immune to that right now.

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#77

Post by xeromal »

sdoering wrote: post #74
xeromal wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, once I caught gist of what was bothering them, I would've just nuked Libre from the title and all translations. Just call it the Card Wallet and be done with it.

This would be practical - but what about companies like "Free Now" that are (at least currently) seemingly allowed to keep operating under that name in the Play store. Why delete something from the name that is actually transporting information for the user just because Google arbitrarily decides that for this rue the mistranslation comprises a rule break while other apps (with probably bigger marketing spend on Goog…

If your livelihood is tied to an app in the store being published, you gotta play ball.

If you can survive with or without the app being published, then I'd definitely take a crack at trying to explain to Google what their problem is.

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#78

Post by [deleted] »

Hizonner wrote: post #59
duhast wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you realistically solve this problem? Part of what makes these platforms so attractive to the end user is in fact app curation. Strict control over APIs and power usage, all sorts of minimum standards and mandatory integrations are contributing enormous value to these ecosystems.

What makes these platforms attractive to the end user is that they're the only things available for sale down at the phone store. And what makes the decision between the two available choices is what your friends have, or what you already have, or what's on sale, or about a trillion other things that are more likely to be "top of mind" for the average buyer. I bet not one user in 1000 gives any thought to "app curati…

[deleted]

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#79

Post by alisonkisk »

erhk wrote: post #38
buscoquadnary wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of times I've heard of people only getting support from Google because they know someone on the inside is quite astonishing. If I were an Google employee looking to make a few extra bucks I'd definitely start offering to help "nudge" account issues for a few extra bucks under the table.

Dont worry, google is working hard to make sure that even employees are unable to do anything of that sort. Gather the world's information and make it uniformally unsupported.

This is good. It will tie the fates of small time customers/users to the elites, so the situation gets fixed or the business collapses.

Re: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies: A story from hell

#80

Post by Aaargh20318 »

ComradePhil wrote: post #25

I'm genuinely interested in hearing from people who believe that Apple and Google should have a monopoly on deciding what apps people can run on their phones. In case of Google's Android, one can still install third party App Stores, even they take away auto-updates and such. Apple is a much worse offender. In either case, why does anyone think that they should have a monopoly there and why is nothing being done to f…

> I'm genuinely interested in hearing from people who believe that Apple and Google should have a monopoly on deciding what apps people can run on their phones.

It’s not so much that I prefer that Apple/Google can decide what I can install on my phone, it’s that I prefer that they decide for my mother and father who click on every ‘accept’ button without reading to just get it out of the way, or my aunt who forwards every facebook scam she encounters and every a-technical person in my life who I would have to bail out time and again if this were not the case.

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