This is because they removed any app from any individual-human developer who didn't care to jump through the hoops of getting and submitting a DUNS number: <a href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2023/07/boosting-trust-and-transparency-in-google-play.html" rel="nofollow">https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2023/07/boosting-t...</a><p>“On August 31, we’ll start rolling out these requirements for anyone creating new Play Console developer accounts. In October, we’ll share more information with existing developers about how to update and verify existing accounts.”<p>Source: happened to me and all of my apps despite them being Free Software and offline-only. Here's one of the emails they sent me about it: <a href="https://i.imgur.com/dVzQj2p.jpeg" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/dVzQj2p.jpeg</a><p>Notice how they open with “Hi Developers at [my first and last name]” – developer<i>s</i>, plural, and “at” like they only expect me to be a company and not a single person.
Gee, I wonder why.<p>Publishing on the Play Store for indie devs or hobby projects just doesn’t make any sense.<p>You need to jump though so many hoops and doxx yourself in the process, only to make basically no money with the apps, and even if you miraculously do, risk getting kicked out of their platform without any way to contact a competent human.<p>Even before all this, the general consensus amongst solo app devs was that “don’t waste your time with Android”, now add about a hundred hour of bureaucracy to even get started with your first app, the choice is obvious for many.<p>I was a long time Android user and switched to iOS because the apps there are just better, I honestly think that Google of running the Android ecosystem into the ground and only the big players will want to go though this mess.<p>As a Flutter developer, it makes me want to switch to other technologies, because if Android loses its appeal, Flutter, another Google product, offers basically nothing. On web, it scks, on iOS SwiftUI will always have an advantage, Android as discussed is in steady and fast decline, and who the hell needs Flutter desktop apps that have poor integration with the operating system…
For me the really unreasonable change was the app testing requirements on non-corporate developers. Having to get 20 users to beta test an unlisted Android app <i>for two weeks</i> before getting it on the store is not a reasonable thing to require for hobby projects. I'm not sure I even know 20 Android users well enough that I'd feel comfortable asking for that level of engagement from them.<p>It's a particularly bad policy to launch with existing developers grandfathered out, because the policy probably looks really successful to start with due to the difference in new developer vs. old developer populations -- the entities who are right now making most of the quality apps aren't affected. What's being affected is the pipeline of new developers, but the effect of killing that pipeline won't become obvious for years.
> One factor Google didn’t cite was the new trader status rule enforced by the EU as of this February, which began requiring developers to share their names and addresses in the app’s listing.<p>Yep, it was probably that.
Yeah, I dropped my apps from Play, couldn't find a way to avoid putting my personal address on there.. fuck that, I'm making something for free, and they force me to dox myself for it? Nah, I'm good.
My app’s organization is outside the “west”. So in order to complete verification with Google I had to pay some subcontractor of Dunn&Bradstreet almost $500 to get the DUNS. Then I had to get an original certified copy of the organization’s registration from the national registry. Then have an official notarized translation to English and get all that apostilled (another $500 through a service).<p>Also, Google support refused to tell me what set of documents they would accept. I had to figure it out myself.
Another factor:<p>> Google also just increased the target API level requirement for apps on the Google Play Store<p><a href="https://tech.yahoo.com/phones/articles/google-plays-rules-killing-indie-185153949.html" rel="nofollow">https://tech.yahoo.com/phones/articles/google-plays-rules-ki...</a><p>We also saw established apps like iA Writer decide to get off the treadmill.<p>> In order to allow our users to access their Google Drive on their phones we had to rewrite privacy statements, update documents, and pass a series of security checks, all while facing a barrage of new, ever-shifting requirements.<p><a href="https://ia.net/topics/our-android-app-is-frozen-in-carbonite?utm_source=syndication" rel="nofollow">https://ia.net/topics/our-android-app-is-frozen-in-carbonite...</a>
Sounds like there are a range of reasons, but the bigger picture explanation is : Google no longer cares about incentivizing apps to be on the store.<p>The mobile OS wars are over: every company and dev that wants to do anything is locked into having to provide an Android and iOS app no matter how difficult it is, so all the incentives are for Apple / Google to insulate themselves from risk now by raising the bar on devs.<p>We need to start exercising the minimal rights / capabilities to ship alternative app stores on these platforms. Easier said than done.
Technology was supposed to get rid of most of bureaucracy and move the World towards automation. These FAANG companies have instead successfully integrated bureaucracy with technology and have made bureaucracy permanent. Instead of automating away bureaucracy these companies have automated away customer service.
I miss the freewheeling days of Android apps. You'd find all kinds of apps made by solo devs as a labor of love. Later, Google largely killed those apps by severely downranking them in the play store algorithm, and made searching in the play store "we'll show you what we want to show you, the filters do nothing", but you could still install a secondary app store in CyanogenMod and find those weird and fun apps. Is there any of this left? I've heard that the secondary app stores have fallen into disrepair.
> Instead of only banning broken apps that crashed, wouldn’t install, or run properly, the company said it would begin banning apps that demonstrated “limited functionality and content.” That included static apps without app-specific features, such as text-only apps or PDF-file apps. It also included apps that provided little content, like those that only offered a single wallpaper. Additionally, Google banned apps that were designed to do nothing or have no function, which may have been tests or other abandoned developer efforts.<p>Sounds like it was a purge of zero value apps. Why was Google allowing these legions of unusable and/or garbage apps in their store in the first place? Someone padding their numbers?
Good, I hope it dies off and we get to a state of decentralized app distribution just like PCs have. App stores suck, I don't need Google of all companies knowing every single one of the apps I have on my phone
I’m an iOS dev coming to Android because I was lucky enough to recently make an iOS app that’s making enough money to be worth porting.<p>The developer experience of PlayStore is SO BAD compared to the AppStore - which isn’t even that good to start with.<p>It’s like all the software and websites are just made by people who don’t care at all if you use it or not.
I don't remember who wrote the report, but a recent games industry report made its way to my desk, and it stated that considerably more games were removed from mobile stores than added over the last few quarters.<p>I think that could be due to some uncertainty in the market about the future of mobile gaming. Mobile AAA never caught on, and the industry tried it with CoD, Civilization, Mario, Fortnite, Resident Evil, GTA, Assassin's Creed, and others. Only Pokémon Go and Genshin were exceptions on the AAA side due to strong mechanics (Pokémon: ARG appeal, Genshin: gacha profits).<p>Meanwhile, the small-budget side has become extremely overcrowded by trash-level asset flips, gachas, and ads with vague game elements. Many genuinely talented game developers are asking, "Does my game fit in the mobile markets?" and concluding that the answer is probably closer to no than a yes.<p>Maybe this is just the natural life cycle of the stores. Moderation doesn't keep up with use, leading to disappointed users and abandonment. Do you remember when we used to check the App Store occasionally for new fun apps during the iPhone 4/4S era? We'd get like an accelerometer app that turns a phone into a silly beer pint, and it'd be quite clever and novel. Or we'd download pedometers, and that was quite a novel and smart tool to track exercise. All because they were promoted on the stores. That's a distant memory for me; I only go to the stores to download the things I already know I need, they have turned into package managers for me.
It doesn't surprise me.<p>There are more apps than people care about.<p>Nowadays I only install games, or apps for services where I can't do otherwise.<p>The time for "there is an app for that" is long gone, and the push for developers to artificially update their apps for whatever was presented as great Google IO innovation, or be out of the store, can only lead to outcomes like this.<p>I imagine that the numbers on Appstore aren't much different.
Maybe related? <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43804937">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43804937</a><p>I don't get the new D-U-N-S number requirement. Actual scammers can easily jump through the hoops. It's the small independent devs that won't bother with the bureaucracy, especially those that do it for free.
Google didnt let me keep my developer account because I couldnt verify address. The only ways they accept address is with bills that are not in my name so I couldnt verify my address. It's ridiculous given that I have an android phone a gmail account and they know where I live based on location data.
I cannot remember the last time I downloaded and installed an app from the Play Store (it must have been several years ago). Instead I have been getting apps from GitHub, F-Droid or the developer’s website.
Here is a chart with the number of Android Apps in Google Play (over time): <a href="https://www.appbrain.com/stats/number-of-android-apps" rel="nofollow">https://www.appbrain.com/stats/number-of-android-apps</a>
Apple have been forced by EU to allow the web and PWA's to work on iOS, so there is no longer a need to make natives apps for both Android and iOS anymore, u can just make a PWA.
I’ve read through the comments here, and something most people here don’t get is the importance of App Stores for discoverability. The first thing non-developers think when you tell them “download xyz app” is to open the App/Play Store and search there. If your stuff isn’t there it just doesn’t exist.<p>That’s specially true for 3rd-world countries (I can only speak about Brazil, but my guess India would be pretty similar), where for a long while obtaining apps was a dice roll if you’d get a malware or not. Eventually the Play Store made it safer, but also created a group memory of “stuff outside Play Store is cut-and-dry unsafe”. In the circles I have access, people would hesitate to even open your website if you tell them to, but saying “my app is on the Play Store” makes it instantly “safe” in their minds.<p>I’m still in the process of bringing my App to the Play Store (after being on Apple’s for 3 months now), and honestly catering to Android with the new rules has been the biggest regret in my 20-year career so far. Yet, there is no alternative, because every time I tell people about my project, they always come back saying “I couldn’t find it” when the project name is literally a domain name.
This is phrased like a bad thing, but it’s actually a good thing. I’m an iOS user and I can tell you Apple is <i>not</i> doing a good job keeping the App Store free of scams. I’m guessing Google is doing a much better job and this is the result
As others have noted this is basically security theater because many legitimate apps are being removed and many spammy apps are staying up.<p>I work at a company that created some whitelabel apps for some popular brands and recently the apps have been taken down for "impersonation" despite the fact that we presented all the necessary paperwork mutliple times before (documents signed by the legal owners of the trademarks).<p>This supposed "cleanup" operation of the Play Store is just a very sloppy attempt by Google, a company that should be able to do better given the its size and resources.
I've starting using less and less apps as the years go by. No more facebook, insta, twitter, tic toc. A lot of very useful apps like a calculator, flashlight, magnifyer, all that stuff is stock.
Can you not just install an android app from a website? I always thought that was part of the attraction of Android - you could install without an app store requirement like ios. Actually.... I seem to remember building a couple android apps and just linking from a website but... that was... 8(!) years ago. Is that still a thing? Was it ever, or did I just misremember that?
Google has always been hostile towards indiedevs but they have become complete garbage. They do things like removing apps because they have "banned" keywords in the naming. Apps that been around for +5 years. Or you have to comply to some new bs. Or they tried to force you to use Google pay and so on.<p>Google play has always been totally corrupt. But it is even worse today. The amount of trash spreading through their own programs is massive and then they are banning apps that does not even claim any permissions.<p>As always with Google, money talks. If you are a small corp you are pretty much screwed. If you are a big client Google will call you and tell you how they fixed your issues before you even knew about them. I really hate working with Google and hope they get split up and destroyed in the anti-trust case. (Yeah, I know the corp is named Alphabet)
I don't know if it's related, but I recently started using apps from f-droid. Maybe I should have done that much earlier, but necessity forced ky hand. I just can't find good apps on the Play Store anymore. Everything is enshittified. Even simple SMS apps have ads and in-app purchases. For what!?<p>F-droid apps are simply better these days.
How very American that the requirement to register is to obtain a private fee for service business identification, not some kind of institutionalised public interest registry.
The real issue here isn't what the app store sets as requirements. It's that the users can't avoid it to get the applications (or doing so it too confusing).
Google's loss<p>I had useful free apps deleted. They worked, now the alternatives are all ad infested slop.<p>I CBF jumping through their hoops, might just move them to alternative stores
Good riddance! Apps (in general, there are many exceptions) are a slimy way to put your idea into the world. The vast majority of apps can simply be a website with zero loss of function. If you're not doing something special with my phone hardware, I'm absolutely not downloading your app.
Too late. This google store is full of scams apps.<p>Ah no, it's intentionally made for scammers to boost the Google Play users.<p>So it's worth to kill itself. Your dirty marketing tacticts is cheap, human become more smarter these days.