17
Google's Play Store Cleanup: How It Affects App Developers (www.geeksmatrix.com)
submitted 3 months ago by federino@programming.dev to c/android_dev@programming.dev
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 9 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] ericjmorey@programming.dev 10 points 3 months ago

What Constitutes a 'Low-Quality' App?

According to Google's updated policy, 'low-quality' apps include those that:

  • Are unstable or prone to crashes.
  • Lack responsiveness or are slow to load.
  • Offer minimal functionality such as single-page apps or simple wallpaper collections.
  • Fail to install or load properly.

LOL

Thanks for doing what you should have been doing for 16 years.

[-] refalo@programming.dev 6 points 3 months ago

Publishing on the play store now requires giving out personal identity documents (like drivers license or passport), full legal name/phone number/email/tax ID/etc., as well as your private signing keys.

That's a hard nope for me.

[-] Maddier1993@programming.dev 6 points 3 months ago

I am not an android developer, and privacy wise I don't try to put the toothpaste back into the tube. I would have been fine with everything except the last one. What happens when there is a data breach on Google?

[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

No one will be able to google it because they will squash any results to protect Alphabets share price.

[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago

Lol, that would feel like world-scale schizophrenia¹, you know something happens, but there's no proof it's real

1although it would be correct to call it mass gaslighting

[-] DeprecatedCompatV2@programming.dev -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I'm surprised this wasn't already the case. You're distributing potentially malicious code to users' devices, and they expect a base level of safety from the Play Store. You're free to publish elsewhere, so it's not like Apple's policy.

[-] refalo@programming.dev 4 points 3 months ago

I don't consider a personal dev's identity documents and signing keys to have much bearing on "safety".

[-] DeprecatedCompatV2@programming.dev -1 points 3 months ago

You're not a developer, you're a company, even if you're doing business as an individual.

The signing key requirement has pros and cons. Cons being that Google can now impersonate developers and inject code at will. This seems somewhat irrelevant in face of the control they already exert through Google Play Services, but it's obviously bad nonetheless.

Pros being that Google can now keep the signing key secure behind a Google sign-in instead of relying on individual developers to maintain good opsec.

[-] refalo@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago

I don't disagree but for me personally it's too much, so I have decided not to publish on the play store anymore.

this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
17 points (94.7% liked)

Android Development

477 readers
2 users here now

Welcome to the programming.dev Android development community!

The Android robot is reproduced or modified from work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
erlingur@programming.dev
will@programming.dev
Ategon@programming.dev