Bye bye Google Play, I won't miss your bullshit
Some interesting apps I've published on the Play Store now that I'm choosing to allow my account to be terminated (for my own safety)tl;dr
In July 2023, we announced verification requirements for anyone creating new Play Console developer accounts — to boost trust and transparency on Google Play ([link])
Verifing personal developer identity is one thing, but exposing the name and address is another... Even domains have privacy features. YouTubers have privacy too. why should my info be exposed specially when I'm providing free apps? If users don't like my app, they can uninstall. And btw not in every country is it easy to register a company.. Hell even if I somehow managed to register a company in my country which is not at all easy, the D-U-N-S website is actually blocked and I can't access it from here... My country is not even available there... Isn't that amazing?!
It all began on the Play Store
My first project ever (I've written about it here) was Pitcha, a straightforward guitar tuner Android app, in the spring/summer of 2015.
I released 2 other apps on the Play Store that summer, and it helped land a job (where they specifically asked me questions about one of my apps during the interview).
More developer-friendly than Apple (on the surface)
I used to think the Play Store was very developer-friendly. A perpetual one-time $25 developer fee (rather than $100 per year for the App Store), and the most important thing of all, which is that you can develop Android apps from Windows, Mac, or Linux computers while you can only use a Mac computer to write iOS apps (seriously, this is literally the major reason why I detest Apple and would never become an iOS developer).
Add to that the fact that there are cheaper Android phones available, it is (or was?) much easier for a kid getting started to mess around with Android apps than iOS apps, and it was the beginning of my interest in software development.
New (2024) Google Play Store developer account policy and why it makes me unsafe
The new Play Store Policy will make my legal name, address, and phone number available on the public for all to see, despite never once having accepted a single payment from the Google Play Store.
I have never monetized my apps through Google Play, never used Google Play as a merchant for receiving payments, and I'm still under the threat of having my personal information exposed to the public to keep my apps on the Play Store.
These days I run a music demixing website and Android app and I use a bunch of tools to develop, host, monetize, measure, and market it:
- GitHub
- Cloudflare
- Stripe
- Mailchimp
- Postmark
- Google Analytics
- Rudderstack
- ... and more
In Canada, where I live, a sole proprietorship is a simple way to run a business under one's legal name without the hassle of incorporating a business entity. Every other fucking tool I use to run this side-gig respects my privacy as a sole proprietor. My customers are no worse off for not knowing exactly where I live, and they happily interact with me through the internet.
It's 2024 and Google does not need to expose my personal information to the public to host my apps on their platform. Running a business under my legal name without incorporation is 100% valid in my country and if the fifty other vendors I use including other huge names in tech like Cloudflare, Stripe, and others have no issue with this simple business structure, Google should not have a problem with it, plain and simple.
Useless Google support
I wrote to Google Support, not expecting much, and I wasn't disappointed (well, I was disappointed at how bad they are, but it was in line with what I expected).
Me: I'm trying to verify my developer profile before the deadline. I'm registering it as a personal account and it says it will display my home address publically because I accept payments from Google Play. I do not get paid by Google Play, my published app is not monetized through the Play Store. The verification process says "Because you earn money on Google Play, your full legal address will be shown publicly. Learn more", which is completely untrue - I have not received a single cent from Google Play ever in my life, and you can verify this.
(this is verifiable, I've never received a cent from Google Play)
Google: In order to change your legal name and address, kindly complete and submit this form. Please note that there's a chance your developer account and apps might be removed from Google Play if the information you provide during verification doesn't match our requirements. I’ll be closing the case, and if you have further questions or clarification about the Play Console, please don’t hesitate to respond to this email and I will gladly assist you.
This reply has fuck all to do with my request! I'm also happy they emphasize shutting my account down as being more important than answering my fucking question to begin with. Oh, thanks, now you've scared me into compliance and solved all of my problems!
Me: You did not understand my request, why are you closing this case? I'm not trying to change my legal name or address. I'm trying to find out why, during the verification process, Google Play says it will make my home address public because I "accept Google Play payments" even though I have never accepted or received a payment through Google Play.
Google: I understand that you are having some concerns in regards to the new requirements related to the information that will be shown publicly on the Play Store. As part of the new expanded developer verification requirements, developers will be required to provide certain information when creating Play Console which helps us to verify your identity and making sure that we provide safe and wonderful app experiences for our users and a great opportunity for all our developers to be successful.
Another non-answer from a useless fucking piece of shit of a company indeed.
Sideloading my latest app, Music Demixer
I had a quick decision to make:
- I eat shit from Google - this only makes sense if their Play Store is a rich source of my income or traffic, which fortunately it isn't
- Incorporate a business - I won't do this, especially under duress, because again, if I don't need to incorporate a business for Stripe which respects my right to operating a sole proprietorship in my country, then fucking fuck Google for not extending the same recognition
- Take my app off the Play Store - this decision felt right and I went through with it immediately
As of now, my Music Demixer app is available for direct download (aka side-loading) through my website. It's actually not as bad as I thought; after you download the app, your Android phone will take you to the settings page where you need to enable the option to install "potentially unsafe apps" and then you're golden:
Some of my older apps
Since my account will be under the thread of closure in August 2024, I wanted to write a little homage to my old 2015 apps (who's source code I no longer have - I was a less disciplined and organized developer back then and didn't plan for the future).
Pitcha (May 2015)
App name: Pitcha
Short description: Pitch detector.
Full description:
Pitcha is an open-source (github.com/sevagh/Pitcha) pitch detector for Android smartphones.
It uses the McLeod Pitch Method to estimate the fundamental frequency of the raw sound data that is being recorded by the microphone.
It works with all recorded sound, such as human voices, whistling, and musical instruments - try it out.
Limitations:
Due to the nature of smartphone microphones, the frequency range isn't very large. It has trouble with frequencies lower than the low E on a guitar. I have not found the high limit yet.
Usage:
Place phone near audio source and make sure the sound is sustained and clear. For example, with a guitar, pick the string hard, and let it ring for ~2 seconds.
Media and screenshots:
Graphics design on Inkscape
I've always loved making graphics (I use Inkscape for most of my diagrams and images) and doing it for this project was no exception. In fact I kept the same cyan and magenta color scheme for https://freemusicdemixer.com almost 10 years in the future.
Unreal Tracker (March 2015)
I was excited about the Unreal Engine but I felt like I was very far from having the skills to make use of it to develop a game. So, I did the next best thing in my mind, which was to create a companion app to track the latest news on the development of the new Unreal Engine.
App name: Unreal Tracker
Short description: Track the Unreal project.
Full description:
This app is a tracker for the Unreal Tournament and Unreal Engine 4 projects.
It aggregates the latest blog post headlines and abbreviated marketplace listings (along with the links to visit the full page) in one place, making it easy to follow Unreal at a glance.
You can select different themes. I try to keep internet usage light by only fetching posts at application startup. To refresh the listings you need to reopen the app.
Media and screenshots:
Keeping internet usage light
I like that even in the early days, I'm concerned by important aspects of software delivery, e.g. "I try to keep internet usage light by only fetching posts at application startup. To refresh the listings you need to reopen the app." This is a simple approach and one I would choose any day of the week, even today after 10 years
I do remember trying to advertise this project on the Unreal forums - one of my earliest attempts at self-promotion.
Brotivation (June 2015)
Failed crowdsourcing
That summer I was also excited about a new habit, lifting weights, and wanted to make an app related to it. In my mind, it would grow to become a community and people would contribute quotes to the GitHub repo (which would be dynamically loaded into the app on startup)
App name: Brotivation
Short description: Let the wisdom of the greats guide your workout.
Full description:
Lifting is hard. To fill you with the courage you need to tackle your next set, this app will display a random quote (from a list hand-picked by yours truly) from some truly accomplished men and athletes.
Allow the words of Buddha, Zyzz, Ernest Hemingway, and many more fuel your squats and add 50lbs to your deadlifts - for there is no reason to be alive if you can't do deadlifts.
All of the quotes are compiled into the app to avoid internet usage.
Media and screenshots:
I specifically remember being asked questions about Brotivation at a job interview; they found it entertaining (if somewhat goofy, which is not a bad trait to have as a 22-year-old developer).