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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

#91

Post by Groxx »

arghwhat wrote: post #71
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,…

[flagged]

If that's the thing Google is trying to address, they can easily incentivize it - Java apps are usually quite easy to decompile and check. Search for library versions in use, force upgrades on security vulnerabilities.

But they're not doing that. So clearly their goal is something else.

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

#92

Post by [deleted] »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #63
throwaway743 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you just get away with modifying something small, uploading the update, then revert the change, and reupload? Either way, it's nonsense that they force this, especially for those who made an app however long ago and just uploaded and forgot about, or that version was the only one they intended to make. It's crazy how much Google gets away with bullying us.

Not OP, but depending on the industry, this could be enormous amounts of backend work. I have projects that needs to be validated, which effectively means a huge amount of human testing for any change. The Process is confirmed to work on version X.Y.Z and nothing else.

[deleted]

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

#93

Post by Twirrim »

Modified3019 wrote: post #83
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP, but depending on the industry, this could be enormous amounts of backend work. I have projects that needs to be validated, which effectively means a huge amount of human testing for any change. The Process is confirmed to work on version X.Y.Z and nothing else.

I imagine that if this sort of bullheaded google policy persists, companies will start adding “piñatas” into their code that have no real impact and can be changed with barely any validation required. This lets google beat the version numbers out of it at will.

I'd target an about page or something similar, just have a sentence or two that get picked at random from a selection each build. Then have a monthly build job that runs and publishes.

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

#95

Post by strobe »

I was involved in mobile game development for several years, but I’m no longer active in that field. In my opinion, one of the reasons they do this is to maximize Ad revenue. In this case, it’s obvious that if you see this warning on your product page, the quick fix would be to spend money on Ads to gain a few more users as soon as possible. This also creates a competitive bidding situation across the market, as more developers buy ads, forcing others to do the same to keep up.

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

#96

Post by lakomen »

poincaredisk wrote: post #14
_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.

>They now require a DUNS number to submit an app Even for non-us residents?

[dead]

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

#98

Post by pluto_modadic »

vineyardmike wrote: post #77
suddenexample wrote: post #34

A question for Googlers who may be responsible/adjacent - what is the intended function of this warning? It seems to be attempting to filter out low quality apps, but instead seems to be killing any attempt to change the status quo. If the app has fewer users than competing apps, the message Google is sending is "we don't need any new apps that do similar things to existing apps" and "if you're a small app, don't eve…

> we don't need any new apps that do similar things to existing apps" I’m not a “Googler who may be responsible”, but my understanding is that Apple does this too… and Google App Store has a reputation for being lower quality. I assume it’s because unoriginal apps at some point are just “polluting” the market and making it harder to find higher quality products. Which is generally what users want. Some things are red…

quoting from a nice piece: https://lmnt.me/blog/app-stores-and-payment-methods.html "It still blows my mind how little the App Store has improved over the last decade. It’s barely changed. Almost every bad thing about the App Store still exists. And almost every good thing that happened for app distribution and payment methods is just the result of regulation."

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

#99

Post by plq »

Groxx wrote: post #91
arghwhat wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If that's the thing Google is trying to address, they can easily incentivize it - Java apps are usually quite easy to decompile and check. Search for library versions in use, force upgrades on security vulnerabilities. But they're not doing that. So clearly their goal is something else.

"Force" upgrades? What do you mean?

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

#100

Post by godelski »

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,…

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 hardware
Why did we think this was a good idea? Smartphones aren't "smart" without the apps! These companies depend on developers. The developers gave them the "food" that allowed them to grow so big. They only gain from developers! They would still gain even if every developer cost them money. How the fuck do we think they got to be trillion dollar entities in the first place?!

These companies have turned into scorpions[0]. It's myopic and they'll scream about how they're dying even though it's their own damn fault. These aren't just unavoidable things that are leading them to their deaths, but unreasonable. Foregoing larger future rewards (crossing the river) for short term ones (stinging).

It is insanity. Especially as we often try to justify it

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog

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