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I fear google will use this to purge low cost or even free "no-nonsense" (no ads, in app purchases, unnecessary features, etc.). there already had been a patte

I fear google will use this to purge low cost or even free "no-nonsense" (no ads, in app purchases, unnecessary features, etc.). there already had been a pattern of google discriminating against such apps and from a pure monetary sense it makes sense, while for most users such no-nonsense apps are preferable they make little money for Google and compete with apps which do in a certain way google has motivation to feature _especially_ consumer hostile apps using all kinds of dark patterns to trick, blackmail or outright scam people into paying more such a bias is probably illegal under the recent (EU) digital markets act as but that is even more motivation for google do kill a lot of such useful apps now before it's more strictly enforced

atum47 2y ago
Yep. First thing that came to mind. I have three small games published on the play store. I wonder if they are going to make the cut
rlpb 2y ago
It strikes me that what you describe already appears to be true in relation to Google Search's ranking of no-nonsense websites.
StressedDev 2y ago
What is the pattern of discrimination? Can you give some examples?
gs17 2y ago
I can see selective enforcement happening a lot. "We don’t allow apps that crash, force close, freeze, or otherwise function abnormally." feels like it might be enforced a lot more strictly for some apps than others.
rchaud 2y ago
The no-nonsense apps are a dying breed on Google Play. Even a lot of non-shovelware apps are subscription-only, or don't work if you're offline, or introduce new enshittification features with each update. At that point, I'm just going to use their mobile website. F-Droid exists, fortunately. That's where I go if I want simple apps without any BS. Vinyl for music playback, AntennaPod for podcasts, Tusky for Mastodon, etc
- josephcsible 2y ago
  Indeed. Remember when we lost Simple Mobile Tools? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38505229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38505229
  - lostmsu 2y ago
    The OSS fork called FossifyX is already gone from GitHub. Any idea what happened? Upd. they renamed: https://github.com/FossifyOrg https://github.com/FossifyOrg
  - rpdillon 2y ago
    That was the best thing that ever happened, because now you can go to F-Droid and just search for 'fossify' apps, and you'll get the newly forked FOSS versions of SMT apps. Now green-themed instead of orange-themed.
Krssst 2y ago
I go to F-Droid for no-nonsense apps. You can never be too sure what apps will do behind your back if they are not open source. Also, almost all of F-Droid is no-nonsense, so I don't have to spend time trying to choose the least sleazly looking app like I would have on other stores.

atum47 2y ago

Yep. First thing that came to mind. I have three small games published on the play store. I wonder if they are going to make the cut

rlpb 2y ago

It strikes me that what you describe already appears to be true in relation to Google Search's ranking of no-nonsense websites.

StressedDev 2y ago

What is the pattern of discrimination? Can you give some examples?

gs17 2y ago

I can see selective enforcement happening a lot. "We don’t allow apps that crash, force close, freeze, or otherwise function abnormally." feels like it might be enforced a lot more strictly for some apps than others.

rchaud 2y ago

The no-nonsense apps are a dying breed on Google Play. Even a lot of non-shovelware apps are subscription-only, or don't work if you're offline, or introduce new enshittification features with each update. At that point, I'm just going to use their mobile website. F-Droid exists, fortunately. That's where I go if I want simple apps without any BS. Vinyl for music playback, AntennaPod for podcasts, Tusky for Mastodon, etc

josephcsible 2y ago
Indeed. Remember when we lost Simple Mobile Tools? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38505229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38505229
- lostmsu 2y ago
  The OSS fork called FossifyX is already gone from GitHub. Any idea what happened? Upd. they renamed: https://github.com/FossifyOrg https://github.com/FossifyOrg
- rpdillon 2y ago
  That was the best thing that ever happened, because now you can go to F-Droid and just search for 'fossify' apps, and you'll get the newly forked FOSS versions of SMT apps. Now green-themed instead of orange-themed.

Krssst 2y ago

I go to F-Droid for no-nonsense apps. You can never be too sure what apps will do behind your back if they are not open source. Also, almost all of F-Droid is no-nonsense, so I don't have to spend time trying to choose the least sleazly looking app like I would have on other stores.