Another malicious developer most likely used his source code and republished/spammed the Google play store with the said reskin.
The original developer, is now associated with the malicious developer and has his account terminated.
It's not the first time an open source project gets removed from the Google store for "prior violations of the developer program policies".
When I read the privacy policy for the Samsung keyboard pre-installed on my phone and started following the links I was shocked that it was a literal keylogger sending every key press to 3rd parties who said they would use it read every word and phrase I typed to try to guess what my interests were, who I was communicating with, and what my level of cognitive ability/education was! I'd had no idea. Replaced my keyboard immediately.
If an app logged your keystrokes and sent that data to some poor guy in a 3rd world country though Google would shut them down. Samsung is still allowed to host apps on the play store though. In both cases the data being collected will be leveraged against you. Google just doesn't care about malware if the developer is rich enough.
I think it is better to use real humans for checking violations and sending emails. Yes, humans inevitably will make mistakes. However, unlike a neural network algorithm they can be reasoned with and can correct their mistakes later. I'd take much longer issue resolution with hired operators over the fast AI violation check.
This is Google (as well as YouTube) showing once again they (and their robots) do not care and ultimately, they will never change. The Play Store is evidently hostile to free and open-source software.
> Please do not attempt to register a new developer account. We will not be restoring your account at this time.
Meanwhile on F-Droid, they welcomed Wire, an E2EE messenger. [0] That is at least much friendlier than the Play Store, but this won't be the last time I hear about Google giving no reason to terminate or de-monetize someone's account other than 'ToS violation' without pointing what was 'violated'.
People need to stop bringing up F-Droid in response to Google supsending accounts. F-Droid does the exact same thing. If the distributor - whoever they are - don't like you, they will ban you. Your only option is self-hosting APKs (Android only).
The sad thing is the fact Google has (almost?) no customer support.
Don't buy or pay for their services. Perhaps one day if they improved, but most likely, as with all they do, it will be terminated/canceled soon after away.
Some Google services have support. I pay for extra storage, and I get Google One bundled with it, which includes a support channel. I haven't tried it myself yet, but I heard that it's reasonable. The real issue is that when you're banned, you get locked out of the whole service.
Someone should make a precedent to prevent such nonsensical account terminations without any explanation in the future. How about flagging application first and just hiding from app store? Give developer some time to fix any issues, if there were any in the first place. Communicate better, please! Even an "AI" could send an email with explanation why app was flagged. Application is open-source and author doesn't make any money from it, is that a problem for google?
Off topic, can anyone recommend an Android keyboard that allows copy and paste the way Swype did (swipe to c, swipe to v) since Swype went out of business and the stock Google keyboard bizarrely doesn't let you copy and paste?
I don't know of a keyboard that replicates Swype's exact behavior (swiping from the Swype button to C or V).
For rapid text manipulation, AnySoftKeyboard lets you swipe up from the spacebar to show a utility menu with buttons for cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, text selection mode, home, end, and the 4 arrow keys. Copying and pasting in AnySoftKeyboard is pretty quick. It's also free and open source.
Google should be forced and compelled to accept everything in F-Droid into the Play store.
Google ought to have to appeal for removals from this avenue, and that process should be intentionally difficult.
F-Droid developers should be able to opt out, of course, but this constraint placed upon Google would bring many developers and apps back that have (unfairly) faced the night of the long knives.
If Google Play wasn't a monopoly (read as: if Google was forced to include say at least two open app stores not related to them on the Android main page), they would think twice before bullying developers. I'm sure the folks at F-Droid would be happy to host the app, but what's F-Droid exposure to non technical users?
Since he may be in the EU, I wonder if he could appeal the decision using Article 22 of the GDPR "The data subject shall have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning him or her or similarly significantly affects him or her."
Completely unrelated, but this keyboard feels a bit useless to me. I understand the appeal, but why would you not have emojis on a phone keyboard? Surely that counts as something that should be part of the basic package of something. Or am I overestimating how many people use emoji?
> why would you not have emojis on a phone keyboard?
Because I don’t use them
> am I overestimating how many people use emoji?
You are probably not. But why should I care how many of the people who won’t use my phone need them? Not all apps have to cater to the majority of people.
I use this keyboard because it does not have emoji. I have never used emojis in my life. I cannot figure out half the emojis that I get on Signal because I can't zoom in to see what it is. I do wish this keyboard had better spell correction though.
It's not the emoji, it's all the apis needed (or at least used) to do autocomplete suggestions that include emoji and spell corrections and so on. Not every android keyboard is doing this... but a lot of them are just spyware for ad targeting. So you say to a friend potatoes are great :smile: and you get display ads for potatoes on all of your devices.
Bummer for the developer, but bad stuff happens randomly to people. Google is able to operate because of the scale of automation they use. I use Google services but often back up my data.
For this developer, as someone else said, Fdroid is a possibility. Same problem as with Apple’s store. I have one app on Apple’s store, but it is free and simply an example program for a book I might finish writing someday.
I would feel nervous depending on either company’s App Store for my livelihood.
These two companies destroy thousands of businesses with each update of their policies or operating systems and we have just come to accept, in some cases even endorse, this tragic state of affairs.
I'm not saying that Google was right to do this, but this has to be taken with a grain of salt because we don't really know what the circumstances were.
Can the user prove his claims that he wasn't notified about violations in the past?
No he can't (more info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof_(philosophy)#P...). In this case, Google would have to prove that they actually emailed the person, but I doubt they will reply as they might not even be watching this space.
Should we just assume that this person is telling the truth?
Are there reasons why someone would lie about this?
[+] [-] foxfluff|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chottocharaii|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smartties|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] autoexec|4 years ago|reply
If an app logged your keystrokes and sent that data to some poor guy in a 3rd world country though Google would shut them down. Samsung is still allowed to host apps on the play store though. In both cases the data being collected will be leveraged against you. Google just doesn't care about malware if the developer is rich enough.
[+] [-] viktorcode|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BarryMilo|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ComodoHacker|4 years ago|reply
Would you also take the cost of their labor?
[+] [-] rvz|4 years ago|reply
> Please do not attempt to register a new developer account. We will not be restoring your account at this time.
Meanwhile on F-Droid, they welcomed Wire, an E2EE messenger. [0] That is at least much friendlier than the Play Store, but this won't be the last time I hear about Google giving no reason to terminate or de-monetize someone's account other than 'ToS violation' without pointing what was 'violated'.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30117423
[+] [-] IiydAbITMvJkqKf|4 years ago|reply
https://old.reddit.com/r/fdroid/comments/ceyzuz/the_fdroid_d...
[+] [-] iqanq|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gbraad|4 years ago|reply
Don't buy or pay for their services. Perhaps one day if they improved, but most likely, as with all they do, it will be terminated/canceled soon after away.
[+] [-] tomerv|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] butz|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Noumenon72|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] commoner|4 years ago|reply
For rapid text manipulation, AnySoftKeyboard lets you swipe up from the spacebar to show a utility menu with buttons for cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, text selection mode, home, end, and the 4 arrow keys. Copying and pasting in AnySoftKeyboard is pretty quick. It's also free and open source.
https://anysoftkeyboard.github.io
[+] [-] jhauris|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trickstra|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weberer|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chasil|4 years ago|reply
Google ought to have to appeal for removals from this avenue, and that process should be intentionally difficult.
F-Droid developers should be able to opt out, of course, but this constraint placed upon Google would bring many developers and apps back that have (unfairly) faced the night of the long knives.
[+] [-] squarefoot|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yjftsjthsd-h|4 years ago|reply
Empirically yes:)
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/rkr.simplekeyboard.inputmeth...
[+] [-] flipdot|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Symbiote|4 years ago|reply
https://gdpr-info.eu/art-22-gdpr/
[+] [-] schwanky|4 years ago|reply
In the latter case, I fully expect them to remove OpenBoard and the developer's account next.
[+] [-] whoibrar|4 years ago|reply
Stands for its name absolutely simple!
Sad to see it go!
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] aagha|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MisterSandman|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ecedeno|4 years ago|reply
Because I don’t use them
> am I overestimating how many people use emoji?
You are probably not. But why should I care how many of the people who won’t use my phone need them? Not all apps have to cater to the majority of people.
[+] [-] bxparks|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] indymike|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mark_l_watson|4 years ago|reply
For this developer, as someone else said, Fdroid is a possibility. Same problem as with Apple’s store. I have one app on Apple’s store, but it is free and simply an example program for a book I might finish writing someday.
I would feel nervous depending on either company’s App Store for my livelihood.
[+] [-] cybrox|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] steampilot|4 years ago|reply