This article is an open letter from an ordinary Android developer to the community at large and to Google’s management. In short: my developer account on Google Play was demolished within an hour after ten years of good cooperation. Under the spoiler-cat squeeze from the main facts:
tl; dr
- I have been developing Android apps since the release of Android 1.5 Cupcake in 2009.
- I created a developer account on Google Play in August 2011, and started publishing applications in September.
- Throughout my career as an Android developer, I tried to follow the practices recommended by Google.
- The result of my adventures in the Android world was 262 applications, and when they were created, I was always guided by one goal: to provide users of smartphones and tablets with this platform with useful content.
- My products were distinguished by a variety of topics: books and reference books, health and fitness, education, instruments, music and audio, personalization, weather, games ...
- My apps have collected over four million downloads.
- I always took into account the warnings of the Google Play administration and made the necessary changes.
- They began to introduce a new policy regarding monotonous content in mid-November - I did not have enough time to bring my account in line with the new rules.
- On the night of November 27, 2019, I received a series of letters informing me that my applications from the Weather category were blocked; The first letter came at 1:15.
- Finally, at 1:52 the same day I received a letter informing me that my developer account was frozen for repeated violations - it was probably about these same weather applications that were covered by the new policy on monotonous content.
- Less than an hour has passed from the moment the first letter arrived warning that the applications must meet the new requirements.
- I admit that I myself am not without sin, but nevertheless, the decision to delete the account for violations of this kind seems to me unnecessarily tough and categorical.
- I hope that my appeal will fall into the hands of a living person who will give me the opportunity to make adjustments to the applications and continue my development activities on the Google Store account.
Adventures in the Android World
I started my adventures in 2009, first as a user: it was then that I fell into the hands of the HTC G1 smartphone, known in advertising materials under the name Dream (“Dream”). I immediately fell under the charm of the platform and decided that I myself would make applications on Android. Of course, then Android was not what it is now, and it seemed to me that I was on the verge of some unimaginable adventures. If you look at the phenomenal success he has achieved over the past ten years, you can probably say that I was right.
As a Java developer at that time, I naturally decided to rush into the thick of things and download everything I needed to start writing Android applications. At first, I made products only for personal use, but then I followed the advice of friends and decided to pay for an account on the Android Market (this is such an ancestor of Google Play) and thereby take another step towards adventure.
First application
So I launched FastMeteo, a modest weather forecast app in September 2011. Then the competition on the Android Market was even less intense; Weather applications, for example, were once or twice and miscalculated. To my great surprise, success came almost instantly: very soon I discovered that my application had an active database of more than a thousand users and several hundred downloads daily. After a couple of months, I decided that I should try to integrate the AdMob SDK into the product.
Good luck with FastMeteo spurred me on to continue trying and invest heavily in developing a wide variety of Android applications that could cover the needs of the people around me and other platform users. These included daily horoscopes, sudoku, abacus, piano, a French language tutorial, a smart card reader, monitoring information about the processor, hardware, system and SIM cards, a performance tester, a word search puzzle, kakuro, a game of fifteen , country forecasts, league football matches, discount calculator ...
As you can see, the number of applications was limited only by the limits of my imagination. My Google Play account is now finished, but I found statistics about myself on AppBrain and found that over the past ten years I have released 262 applications. It was also unexpected for me that my applications collected over four million downloads on the market, and the average rating was 4.45 out of 5.
Among my products there is a series of applications that provide weather forecasts for specific countries, as well as applications with football statistics - I made them at the rate of one for each league. In 2012, when I took up these projects, it seemed that such an approach was acceptable, and so far the administration had never contacted me with any comments on this subject. As I understand it, the November policy update, which deals with the ban on monotonous content, fundamentally changed the situation. Obviously, I was not vigilant enough.
One hour that crossed out ten years
I paid for my inattention to changes in the rules and the illegal situation of products caused by them with forecasts and match results. So, on the night of November 27, I received an email; it said that a number of applications were blocked and removed from the market as violating the requirements for a variety of content:
As you can see in the screenshot, the first letter was received at 1:15. After that, everything continued in the same spirit until 1:52, when the final message came:
I assume that in situations where the installed number of applications has been blocked on your account for a short period of time, this message is sent automatically to the developer.
Guilty, but looking forward to leniency
To begin with, I want to say the following: my mistake and I admit it. The Google Play policy has evolved, and I had to adjust. Nevertheless, the decision to simply take and demolish an account in the middle of the night seems very tough and categorical to me. Seriously, how was I supposed to have time to fix something between the first message at 1:15 and the final deletion at 1:52? I just did not have time to respond to the first lock - and in fact in such cases it acts as a warning. In my opinion, such a term would not even be physically sufficient to bring all products in line with the new content requirements.
Based on how quickly the measures were taken, I filed an appeal, but I’m afraid that the same automated system that deleted my account will work with it. I really hope that the request nevertheless gets to a living person who at least glances through the file, and that ten years of conscientious cooperation with Google Play will speak in my favor when making the final decision.
Judging by what I read on Medium and other resources about cases of account deletion, it is very, very difficult to get your team members to consider your request. But negotiating with cars is even more difficult. Therefore, I do not have illusions. But still, I decided to write this letter to express my disappointment with the sudden death of the developer account on the Google Store after all efforts to make quality products and follow the rules established by Google.
In my opinion, by making applications that users considered useful and appreciated, to the best of my ability, I contributed some, albeit modest, contribution to the deafening success that the platform has achieved over the past ten years - this also proves the average rating of my applications on Google Play. The fact that they managed to convict me and execute the sentence for an hour that night was a blow to me. It remains to wish that in the future other developers do not have to deal with something like that. Therefore, I hope that in the future the Google Play administration will continue to improve its policy regarding violators towards greater humanity and take into account the history of the developer. After all, it is the developers who form the basis of success for the market.
Finally, I hope that this story will get more resonance in the Android community - this will increase the chances that my appeal will be examined comprehensively and not by automated means.
November 28th Update
I received the first response from the administration - in my opinion, automatically generated. The content boiled down to the fact that my appeal was rejected.
Hello, developer!
Thanks for contacting the Google Play administration. We reviewed your appeal and concluded that the original decision was correct. We will not be able to restore your developer account.
Then I sent a second request with a detailed explanation of the whole situation and the reasons why the decision seems unfair to me. My prayers were in vain - almost immediately I received an answer, very similar to the previous one.
Hello, developer!
Thanks again for contacting the Google Play administration. I would be happy to help you, but I do not have any additional information on request. In a previous letter, I outlined everything that I know.
If you have any other questions about the developer console, let me know.
Finally, I decided to try my luck for the last time and write that the harsh measures they took once and for all deprive me of the opportunity to have an account on Google Play and that I hope for leniency, given my trustworthy biography of the Android developer.
Unlike previous attempts, this time there was no immediate reaction, and this inspired me with hope - maybe the answer would not be automated. A few hours later I received this message:
Hello Sylvian!
Thanks for contacting the Google Play administration. We reviewed your appeal and, taking into account extenuating circumstances, came to the conclusion that we can cancel the removal decision with certain conditions.
Also, the listed applications will remain blocked as violating the following policy points ...
In this answer, my attention was immediately attracted by the fact that they addressed me by name, and not generalized, as in previous cases. So I got the impression that my “business” was still considered by someone alive. In the end, Google Play decided to pardon me and limit myself to uninstalling applications that do not fit into politics. And this was just what I needed - to be given the opportunity to remove content that they consider inappropriate, without going to extremes like a lifetime ban.
This gloomy incident made me think about some of my own mistakes. Therefore, I will go through my list of applications and cut it, leaving only what users find especially valuable, and I will also be much more careful to monitor all future changes in the rules of the market.