So long Google, and thanks for all the nudes
Frustrated by an incomprehensible app rejection featuring an unrelated NSFW screenshot, a developer is abandoning the Google Play Store for F-Droid and degoogled Android.
summary is enough It offers an entertaining and bizarre anecdote about broken app moderation, but covers well-trodden complaints about mobile app store gatekeeping.
summary
After experimenting with old Android devices in a degoogled environment, a developer attempted to publish an app on the Google Play Store. The submission was rejected with an inexplicable NSFW screenshot attached, and the appeal failed without explanation. Fed up with opaque gatekeeping, the author resolved to release future projects exclusively through alternative channels. Commenters heavily resonated with these grievances, sharing similar horror stories about automated moderation and strict new developer requirements.
key points
- Google Play rejected the author's app while inexplicably attaching an unrelated NSFW screenshot from an unknown source.
- New publisher account requirements, such as forcing 12 closed-test users for 14 days, heavily punish hobbyist developers.
- Commenters widely criticize app store gatekeepers for opaque enforcement, lack of human support, and rising anti-competitive hurdles.
who should read it
Android developers and mobile ecosystem observers interested in app store friction.
discussion skeptical
consensus
Commenters overwhelmingly agree that Google's app review process is broken, opaque, and hostile toward small-scale and hobbyist developers.
pushback
A minority argues that strict gatekeeping and testing requirements are necessary to prevent the store from being flooded with low-quality spam.
I think I'm done with Android apps development. The following publishing requirements just closed the door for me as a hobby developer:
> Have at least 12 testers opted-in to your closed test.
> Run your closed test with at least 12 testers, for 14 days
The funny thing is this seems to apply to recently-created personal publisher accounts. I had a very old publisher account but because I was unable to move my account owner to another email address, I closed it and registered a new one. Little did I know what this would lead to later on.
It outlines concrete regulatory hurdles like the mandatory 14-day closed testing requirement that effectively kills independent hobbyist development.
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