It feels like reviewers are paid by the amount of hours of app developers they can waste. And/or it's a horribly AI."},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Can we crowdsource Google Play review nonsense to shame them into caring?"}},"_tags":["story","author_juliushuijnk","story_33785865","ask_hn"],"author":"juliushuijnk","children":[33785914],"created_at":"2022-11-29T10:35:04Z","created_at_i":1669718104,"num_comments":1,"objectID":"33785865","points":4,"story_id":33785865,"story_text":"The madness of Google Review process is such a time sink. Perhaps if we collect stories and can present those to Google somehow to create some PR shaming, they'll make improvements.
It feels like reviewers are paid by the amount of hours of app developers they can waste. And/or it's a horribly AI.","title":"Can we crowdsource Google Play review nonsense to shame them into caring?","updated_at":"2024-09-20T12:41:42Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"neha_t"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"I am a new developer to google play. i had uploaded and published my game app - Word Hookup - to google play for "internal testing" a week back. The status still shows "pending publication". Why does google play need app review for internal testing, and that too over a week. My game app submission on iOS went live within 2 days [shameless plug - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/word-hookup/id1467012830]. I had the impression that it was apple that took too long for app reviews. Not being able to even internal test has been very frustrating. Google play support has not responded to my emails. A chat rep I spoke to told me that he would escalate the issue, but no further response yet. Anyone else experience anything similar, or is something wrong with my submission as this would be my first submission to Google Play."},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Whats wrong with Google play app review?Internal testing pending for over a week"}},"_tags":["story","author_neha_t","story_20821188","ask_hn"],"author":"neha_t","children":[20822131,20826770],"created_at":"2019-08-28T16:17:57Z","created_at_i":1567009077,"num_comments":2,"objectID":"20821188","points":3,"story_id":20821188,"story_text":"I am a new developer to google play. i had uploaded and published my game app - Word Hookup - to google play for "internal testing" a week back. The status still shows "pending publication". Why does google play need app review for internal testing, and that too over a week. My game app submission on iOS went live within 2 days [shameless plug - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/word-hookup/id1467012830]. I had the impression that it was apple that took too long for app reviews. Not being able to even internal test has been very frustrating. Google play support has not responded to my emails. A chat rep I spoke to told me that he would escalate the issue, but no further response yet. Anyone else experience anything similar, or is something wrong with my submission as this would be my first submission to Google Play.","title":"Whats wrong with Google play app review?Internal testing pending for over a week","updated_at":"2024-09-20T04:46:01Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"msravi"},"story_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":""},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Google Play reviews to be posted with real name and picture"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/26/google-play-gets-real-reviews-will-now-be-posted-with-your-google-name-and-picture/"}},"_tags":["story","author_msravi","story_4836825"],"author":"msravi","created_at":"2012-11-27T12:26:26Z","created_at_i":1354019186,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"4836825","points":3,"story_id":4836825,"story_text":"","title":"Google Play reviews to be posted with real name and picture","updated_at":"2024-09-19T19:05:19Z","url":"http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/26/google-play-gets-real-reviews-will-now-be-posted-with-your-google-name-and-picture/"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"zsedbal"},"story_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":""},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Google Play reviews delivered into Slack and your inbox"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"http://reviewcatz.com/"}},"_tags":["story","author_zsedbal","story_9587646"],"author":"zsedbal","children":[9587664],"created_at":"2015-05-22T11:17:42Z","created_at_i":1432293462,"num_comments":1,"objectID":"9587646","points":2,"story_id":9587646,"story_text":"","title":"Google Play reviews delivered into Slack and your inbox","updated_at":"2023-09-07T02:48:33Z","url":"http://reviewcatz.com/"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"samat"},"story_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":""},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Show HN: Interstellar: Your Google Play Reviews in the Slack Channel"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://medium.com/meduza-dev/interstellar-a23178a3106f"}},"_tags":["story","author_samat","story_9057046","show_hn"],"author":"samat","children":[9057057],"created_at":"2015-02-16T14:36:32Z","created_at_i":1424097392,"num_comments":1,"objectID":"9057046","points":2,"story_id":9057046,"story_text":"","title":"Show HN: Interstellar: Your Google Play Reviews in the Slack Channel","updated_at":"2023-09-07T02:06:49Z","url":"https://medium.com/meduza-dev/interstellar-a23178a3106f"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"srathi"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition Review - Nearly Nexus"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"http://www.anandtech.com/show/7107/htc-one-and-samsung-galaxy-s-4-google-play-edition-review-nearly-nexus"}},"_tags":["story","author_srathi","story_5950239"],"author":"srathi","created_at":"2013-06-27T01:48:56Z","created_at_i":1372297736,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"5950239","points":2,"story_id":5950239,"title":"HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition Review - Nearly Nexus","updated_at":"2023-09-06T21:50:30Z","url":"http://www.anandtech.com/show/7107/htc-one-and-samsung-galaxy-s-4-google-play-edition-review-nearly-nexus"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"risquer"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"How to Automate Bringing Google Play Store Reviews to Google Sheets"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"https://medium.com/better-programming/play-store-review-to-google-sheets-automation-c372115ff661"}},"_tags":["story","author_risquer","story_21858673"],"author":"risquer","created_at":"2019-12-22T18:15:31Z","created_at_i":1577038531,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"21858673","points":2,"story_id":21858673,"title":"How to Automate Bringing Google Play Store Reviews to Google Sheets","updated_at":"2024-09-20T05:21:50Z","url":"https://medium.com/better-programming/play-store-review-to-google-sheets-automation-c372115ff661"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"dreeves"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Pure Android: Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One 'Google Play editions' review"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4466600/samsung-galaxy-s4-htc-one-google-play-edition-stock-android-review"}},"_tags":["story","author_dreeves","story_5948220"],"author":"dreeves","created_at":"2013-06-26T19:02:40Z","created_at_i":1372273360,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"5948220","points":1,"story_id":5948220,"title":"Pure Android: Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One 'Google Play editions' review","updated_at":"2023-09-06T21:50:21Z","url":"http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4466600/samsung-galaxy-s4-htc-one-google-play-edition-stock-android-review"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"orangepush"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Hi all,
We\u2019ve hit a limitation with the Google Play Developer API during automation and wondered if anyone has found a workaround.
Short background:\nUsing the Google Play Developer API, we can upload artifacts and move releases between tracks (internal/alpha/beta/production).\nHowever, once a release is submitted for review, there\u2019s no API to read the review status (e.g., \u201cin review,\u201d \u201capproved,\u201d \u201crejected\u201d), and you cannot remotely trigger the final publish after review completes.
Reference issue:\n https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/179708468
This is blocking our end-to-end automation: we can push builds and submit for review, but we can\u2019t reliably detect when review finishes or automatically finalize the rollout.
Questions for the community:
Has anyone found a direct API (official or undocumented) that provides review status?
Any reliable workarounds? (examples: polling track/release timestamps, scraping Play Console UI, email/webhook notifications, or manual gates)
If you had to design a robust release pipeline around this limitation, what approach did you take?
Thanks \u2014 any pointers, scripts, or experiences would be hugely helpful!"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Ask HN: How to detect Google Play review completion via API?"}},"_tags":["story","author_orangepush","story_45808419","ask_hn"],"author":"orangepush","created_at":"2025-11-04T07:44:43Z","created_at_i":1762242283,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"45808419","points":1,"story_id":45808419,"story_text":"Hi all,
We\u2019ve hit a limitation with the Google Play Developer API during automation and wondered if anyone has found a workaround.
Short background:\nUsing the Google Play Developer API, we can upload artifacts and move releases between tracks (internal/alpha/beta/production).\nHowever, once a release is submitted for review, there\u2019s no API to read the review status (e.g., \u201cin review,\u201d \u201capproved,\u201d \u201crejected\u201d), and you cannot remotely trigger the final publish after review completes.
Reference issue:\n https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/179708468
This is blocking our end-to-end automation: we can push builds and submit for review, but we can\u2019t reliably detect when review finishes or automatically finalize the rollout.
Questions for the community:
Has anyone found a direct API (official or undocumented) that provides review status?
Any reliable workarounds? (examples: polling track/release timestamps, scraping Play Console UI, email/webhook notifications, or manual gates)
If you had to design a robust release pipeline around this limitation, what approach did you take?
Thanks \u2014 any pointers, scripts, or experiences would be hugely helpful!","title":"Ask HN: How to detect Google Play review completion via API?","updated_at":"2026-03-05T22:56:29Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"makuchaku"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"I use the Google Image Search API to power up content in my app(s). Google Play review team says its Intellectual Property (copyright) violation - while they show the same content on Google Image Search.
Where am I going wrong?\nHow can I fix this?"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["google","play"],"value":"Ask HN: Google Play keeps rejecting my App on Copyright violation. What to do?"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":""}},"_tags":["story","author_makuchaku","story_9897569","ask_hn"],"author":"makuchaku","children":[9898165],"created_at":"2015-07-16T14:53:52Z","created_at_i":1437058432,"num_comments":2,"objectID":"9897569","points":3,"story_id":9897569,"story_text":"I use the Google Image Search API to power up content in my app(s). Google Play review team says its Intellectual Property (copyright) violation - while they show the same content on Google Image Search.
Where am I going wrong?\nHow can I fix this?","title":"Ask HN: Google Play keeps rejecting my App on Copyright violation. What to do?","updated_at":"2024-09-19T22:05:22Z","url":""},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"hmert"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Sundar personally unblocked an Android app after one public tweet. Is Play review still a rules system?
Peter Steinberger (OpenClaw) posted that the Android app had been stuck in Google Play review for over a week and asked if anyone at Google could help:
Do I know anyone at Google who could help? We're now over a week in review limbo for OpenClaw's Android app.
Sundar Pichai replied: \u201cAck, will follow up.\u201d
Hours later Steinberger posted that the update was live.
A company that dropped \u201cDon\u2019t be evil,\u201d sits on a multi-trillion-dollar market cap, and runs the default distribution channel for Android apparently still clears the queue when the CEO is tagged in public. Everyone else waits on the opaque process.
If review is rules-based, why does a CEO ack move an app that was already a week in limbo? If it isn\u2019t, what exactly is the status of Google as a neutral platform \u2014 gatekeeper with optional rules, or just another contacts game at scale?
Thread: https://x.com/steipete/status/2106446147791597774"},"title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"\"Ack, will follow up.\""}},"_tags":["story","author_hmert","story_49952073","ask_hn"],"author":"hmert","children":[49952101,49952330,49953074],"created_at":"2026-10-04T09:18:03Z","created_at_i":1791105483,"num_comments":3,"objectID":"49952073","points":2,"story_id":49952073,"story_text":"Sundar personally unblocked an Android app after one public tweet. Is Play review still a rules system?
Peter Steinberger (OpenClaw) posted that the Android app had been stuck in Google Play review for over a week and asked if anyone at Google could help:
Do I know anyone at Google who could help? We're now over a week in review limbo for OpenClaw's Android app.
Sundar Pichai replied: \u201cAck, will follow up.\u201d
Hours later Steinberger posted that the update was live.
A company that dropped \u201cDon\u2019t be evil,\u201d sits on a multi-trillion-dollar market cap, and runs the default distribution channel for Android apparently still clears the queue when the CEO is tagged in public. Everyone else waits on the opaque process.
If review is rules-based, why does a CEO ack move an app that was already a week in limbo? If it isn\u2019t, what exactly is the status of Google as a neutral platform \u2014 gatekeeper with optional rules, or just another contacts game at scale?
Thread: https://x.com/steipete/status/2106446147791597774","title":"\"Ack, will follow up.\"","updated_at":"2026-10-06T10:06:45Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"apocryphal"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Two months ago, I had zero mobile development or publishing experience. I wanted to see if I could build and ship a complete game using only a browser-based workflow and AI assistance.
The process:
Built entirely in GitHub Codespaces using an AI Copilot.
Wrote the core game for the web, then wrapped it into an Android APK/AAB.
Pushed through 100+ versions to fix edge cases.
Passed Google Play review with no policy violations.
The game is a tough 2D platformer called Bionic Biome. To make the "impossible mode" bearable, I integrated a rewarded AdMob ad as a Continue/Revive mechanic. It\u2019s an opt-in lifeline, not a forced pop-up.
Here is the weird hurdle I\u2019ve hit:\nTest ads worked perfectly. But in production, the AdMob dashboard just says "No data" and returns "Ad not ready." My core revive mechanic is effectively disabled because Google's algorithm won't serve real ads until it sees enough "organic" traffic to trust the account.
It's a strange psychological shift. For weeks it was "build, fix, upload." Now, the AI code works, the wrapper works, the integration works, but the core mechanic is held hostage by a silent third-party algorithm waiting for strangers to play it.
Has anyone else here launched a first app and hit this AdMob cold-start wall? How long did it take for your first live ad to actually fill?
If you are curious to see what an AI-coded, web-wrapped game built entirely in a browser actually plays like on Android, the link is below. (No pressure to play, just sharing the technical journey).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pollitopro..."},"title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Show HN: Made First Android game using Codespaces and AI, now in AdMob purgatory"}},"_tags":["story","author_apocryphal","story_47171901","show_hn"],"author":"apocryphal","created_at":"2026-02-26T20:56:03Z","created_at_i":1772139363,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"47171901","points":2,"story_id":47171901,"story_text":"Two months ago, I had zero mobile development or publishing experience. I wanted to see if I could build and ship a complete game using only a browser-based workflow and AI assistance.
The process:
Built entirely in GitHub Codespaces using an AI Copilot.
Wrote the core game for the web, then wrapped it into an Android APK/AAB.
Pushed through 100+ versions to fix edge cases.
Passed Google Play review with no policy violations.
The game is a tough 2D platformer called Bionic Biome. To make the "impossible mode" bearable, I integrated a rewarded AdMob ad as a Continue/Revive mechanic. It\u2019s an opt-in lifeline, not a forced pop-up.
Here is the weird hurdle I\u2019ve hit:\nTest ads worked perfectly. But in production, the AdMob dashboard just says "No data" and returns "Ad not ready." My core revive mechanic is effectively disabled because Google's algorithm won't serve real ads until it sees enough "organic" traffic to trust the account.
It's a strange psychological shift. For weeks it was "build, fix, upload." Now, the AI code works, the wrapper works, the integration works, but the core mechanic is held hostage by a silent third-party algorithm waiting for strangers to play it.
Has anyone else here launched a first app and hit this AdMob cold-start wall? How long did it take for your first live ad to actually fill?
If you are curious to see what an AI-coded, web-wrapped game built entirely in a browser actually plays like on Android, the link is below. (No pressure to play, just sharing the technical journey).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pollitopro...","title":"Show HN: Made First Android game using Codespaces and AI, now in AdMob purgatory","updated_at":"2026-03-07T11:50:47Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"balladeer"},"comment_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"I think Google has some ego issues entangled with its web services and social networks (well, whatever now remains of it). It tries to do it right, but not when everyone (including almost all its users) ask/request them to, but when most probably it's too late.
I am wary of Facebook like it's plague and I honestly believe it is, but truth to be told, I am more wary of Google services and its recent Google+ integration madness. At times I see I've an account there and I don't see how it got created and how to delete it. I recently deleted a YouTube account which was created "automatically" from my Gmail account (which "already" had a Google+ account) and it was publicly sharing all my YouTube likes, after exchanging few emails from Google staff, now I've told Disconnect/Ghostery to not let YoutTube portal any of my Google accounts, but I guess that's not possible on Android.
It's been years since I have written a Google Play (apps) review, or wrote an YouTube comment. I've been trying to move my chat to a jabber based service (I've an sdf.org account) but for some reason my GTalk friends find difficulty to connect to me. So, I'll definitely not be interested in any new Google services because I don't think when they will "integrate" it with something else or when they will shut it down "to focus on more focussed products".
Besides, I would rather put my money into a services which does, more or less, only that business and charges appropriate amount of money for that.
rant ends and tl;dr:
Google just pushed me away with their G+ craziness and saying that its web services are social networks are a mess is an understatement."},"story_title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["google"],"value":"Google Said to Plan Separating Photo Service From Google+"},"story_url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["google"],"value":"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-01/google-said-to-plan-separating-photo-service-from-google-.html"}},"_tags":["comment","author_balladeer","story_8122979"],"author":"balladeer","comment_text":"I think Google has some ego issues entangled with its web services and social networks (well, whatever now remains of it). It tries to do it right, but not when everyone (including almost all its users) ask/request them to, but when most probably it's too late.
I am wary of Facebook like it's plague and I honestly believe it is, but truth to be told, I am more wary of Google services and its recent Google+ integration madness. At times I see I've an account there and I don't see how it got created and how to delete it. I recently deleted a YouTube account which was created "automatically" from my Gmail account (which "already" had a Google+ account) and it was publicly sharing all my YouTube likes, after exchanging few emails from Google staff, now I've told Disconnect/Ghostery to not let YoutTube portal any of my Google accounts, but I guess that's not possible on Android.
It's been years since I have written a Google Play (apps) review, or wrote an YouTube comment. I've been trying to move my chat to a jabber based service (I've an sdf.org account) but for some reason my GTalk friends find difficulty to connect to me. So, I'll definitely not be interested in any new Google services because I don't think when they will "integrate" it with something else or when they will shut it down "to focus on more focussed products".
Besides, I would rather put my money into a services which does, more or less, only that business and charges appropriate amount of money for that.
rant ends and tl;dr:
Google just pushed me away with their G+ craziness and saying that its web services are social networks are a mess is an understatement.","created_at":"2014-08-02T06:44:07Z","created_at_i":1406961847,"objectID":"8124230","parent_id":8122979,"story_id":8122979,"story_title":"Google Said to Plan Separating Photo Service From Google+","story_url":"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-01/google-said-to-plan-separating-photo-service-from-google-.html","updated_at":"2024-09-19T21:03:44Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"AlexDanger"},"comment_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"I strongly disagree with the assertion that gaming is a lemon market. The information asymmetry doesn't exist and I think the analogy is flawed in this case.
The key part of Akerlof's used-car market is the information asymmetry that exists for every instance of a car. Two caryards may have the exact same year/model/colour of Toyota camry. One has no serious flaws and is priced at $1000. The other is priced at $500 but has lots of hidden problems and is a real lemon. To the consumer they look the same, and the logical choice is the $500 car. The $1000 car never gets sold. This is the lemon market in action.
Software is different because when you sell 100k units of software, its a reasonable assumption to believe that all of these 100k units are the same piece of software[1]. A game being reviewed, or upvoted on reddit, or aggregated on metacritic - this is the same software I will recieve if I choose to purchase it. Thus there is no information asymmetry.
If anything, the market has become better in this regard. It is easier now to choose a high quality game. When I was a kid, and lucky enough to have enough dollars in my hand to purchase a video game - I had to make my decision based on the cover art of the SEGA cartridge. Perhaps if I was lucky I would have some entirely objective (cough) information from the Official SEGA Magazine.
[1] Yes, some people will experience the game differently because of device compatibility issues, but that information is also shared (ie Google Play filters reviews by people with the same device as you)."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/how-inapp-purchases-has-destroyed-the-industry/"}},"_tags":["comment","author_AlexDanger","story_7161901"],"author":"AlexDanger","children":[7167956],"comment_text":"I strongly disagree with the assertion that gaming is a lemon market. The information asymmetry doesn't exist and I think the analogy is flawed in this case.
The key part of Akerlof's used-car market is the information asymmetry that exists for every instance of a car. Two caryards may have the exact same year/model/colour of Toyota camry. One has no serious flaws and is priced at $1000. The other is priced at $500 but has lots of hidden problems and is a real lemon. To the consumer they look the same, and the logical choice is the $500 car. The $1000 car never gets sold. This is the lemon market in action.
Software is different because when you sell 100k units of software, its a reasonable assumption to believe that all of these 100k units are the same piece of software[1]. A game being reviewed, or upvoted on reddit, or aggregated on metacritic - this is the same software I will recieve if I choose to purchase it. Thus there is no information asymmetry.
If anything, the market has become better in this regard. It is easier now to choose a high quality game. When I was a kid, and lucky enough to have enough dollars in my hand to purchase a video game - I had to make my decision based on the cover art of the SEGA cartridge. Perhaps if I was lucky I would have some entirely objective (cough) information from the Official SEGA Magazine.
[1] Yes, some people will experience the game differently because of device compatibility issues, but that information is also shared (ie Google Play filters reviews by people with the same device as you).","created_at":"2014-02-02T11:33:51Z","created_at_i":1391340831,"objectID":"7165687","parent_id":7165343,"points":null,"story_id":7161901,"story_title":"How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry","story_url":"http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/how-inapp-purchases-has-destroyed-the-industry/","updated_at":"2023-09-06T22:04:41Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"jauntywundrkind"},"comment_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"Oh, you want to install an apk you want to try? First enable developer mode, go into settings and click some random thing a bunch of time. Which unlocks an intimidating scary section. Then wait 24 hours. Then you can install an apk. https://www.bgr.com/2303296/how-to-install-apps-android-phon...
Are your users going to do that? I can imagine you or I doing that. But is that what you want to tell your users to go do?
Alternate app stores are coming. But my understanding is they still require the same developer verification. As a developer, it's only $25/life for now to get registered, if you're an individual. And jumping through some legal hoops, which hopefully you have your paperwork setup for. If your an org, the costs may be higher.
There was some hope open source types might set up their own app stores, to help with the sometimes extremely slow or frustrating or limiting Google Play Store reviews. But we just found out it'll be $10,000/year. And no one in the US is going to get access to that. Also, this channel while convenient still assumes your users have to switch to that app store to get your app. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-google-android-reg...
Oh and by the way, you can't sign your apps anymore. You don't actually have control over your apps. Google is replacing apk with App Bundles. In this model, you have to sign your app to upload it, with an upload key you control. But then what actually goes out and gets checked is Google shipping their signature on an App Bundle, with their keys. There's nothing to stop Google from pushing out a release to your app with whatever changes they want. This caused great consternation with VLC for example who was (quite justly) not very happy about this new arrangement. That got resolved, but now Google's the one signing VLC. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/google-play-dumps-ap... https://dev.to/npomepuy/vlc-for-android-updates-on-the-play-...
So yes, it's technically still possible! For users and for devs/corps, for people, there's still technically options for people to install apps. As an individual you and I can manage getting stuff installed! With more and more hoops. With ever more onerous terms.
On Windows, Windows Baseline Security Mode got introduced this year, which also is ratcheting up demands, demanding signing systems for apps on Windows. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2026/02/09/stren...
These systems aren't totally imbalanced right now. Native apps on native platforms have intense access to systems. They don't have the secure sandbox of the web to protect them. It's not reasonable to let users just stumble upon apps and run them, in the way that it's perfectly fine for users to browse the web and run webapps willy nilly. But it's also a war against user freedom, part of a broader War on General Purpose Computing, that has been steadily going one direction (down) for a while now. The number of asterisks will continue to increase, on still allows people to install apps***."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"The Web Is More Than Enough, by Paul Ford"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://ftrain.com/aboard-the-web-is-more-than-enough"}},"_tags":["comment","author_jauntywundrkind","story_50416456"],"author":"jauntywundrkind","children":[50423475],"comment_text":"Oh, you want to install an apk you want to try? First enable developer mode, go into settings and click some random thing a bunch of time. Which unlocks an intimidating scary section. Then wait 24 hours. Then you can install an apk. https://www.bgr.com/2303296/how-to-install-apps-android-phon...
Are your users going to do that? I can imagine you or I doing that. But is that what you want to tell your users to go do?
Alternate app stores are coming. But my understanding is they still require the same developer verification. As a developer, it's only $25/life for now to get registered, if you're an individual. And jumping through some legal hoops, which hopefully you have your paperwork setup for. If your an org, the costs may be higher.
There was some hope open source types might set up their own app stores, to help with the sometimes extremely slow or frustrating or limiting Google Play Store reviews. But we just found out it'll be $10,000/year. And no one in the US is going to get access to that. Also, this channel while convenient still assumes your users have to switch to that app store to get your app. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-google-android-reg...
Oh and by the way, you can't sign your apps anymore. You don't actually have control over your apps. Google is replacing apk with App Bundles. In this model, you have to sign your app to upload it, with an upload key you control. But then what actually goes out and gets checked is Google shipping their signature on an App Bundle, with their keys. There's nothing to stop Google from pushing out a release to your app with whatever changes they want. This caused great consternation with VLC for example who was (quite justly) not very happy about this new arrangement. That got resolved, but now Google's the one signing VLC. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/google-play-dumps-ap... https://dev.to/npomepuy/vlc-for-android-updates-on-the-play-...
So yes, it's technically still possible! For users and for devs/corps, for people, there's still technically options for people to install apps. As an individual you and I can manage getting stuff installed! With more and more hoops. With ever more onerous terms.
On Windows, Windows Baseline Security Mode got introduced this year, which also is ratcheting up demands, demanding signing systems for apps on Windows. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2026/02/09/stren...
These systems aren't totally imbalanced right now. Native apps on native platforms have intense access to systems. They don't have the secure sandbox of the web to protect them. It's not reasonable to let users just stumble upon apps and run them, in the way that it's perfectly fine for users to browse the web and run webapps willy nilly. But it's also a war against user freedom, part of a broader War on General Purpose Computing, that has been steadily going one direction (down) for a while now. The number of asterisks will continue to increase, on still allows people to install apps***.","created_at":"2026-11-09T08:27:18Z","created_at_i":1794212838,"objectID":"50422693","parent_id":50421790,"story_id":50416456,"story_title":"The Web Is More Than Enough, by Paul Ford","story_url":"https://ftrain.com/aboard-the-web-is-more-than-enough","updated_at":"2026-11-09T13:08:23Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"aembleton"},"comment_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["google","play","review"],"value":"I use the Google Play reviews, and yes they can be manipulated but that is even less likely on F-Droid where there is less money involved."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"F-Droid 2.0"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://f-droid.org/2026/09/24/f-droid-2.0-a-new-chapter-for-android-freedom.html"}},"_tags":["comment","author_aembleton","story_49831968"],"author":"aembleton","comment_text":"I use the Google Play reviews, and yes they can be manipulated but that is even less likely on F-Droid where there is less money involved.","created_at":"2026-09-25T08:50:09Z","created_at_i":1790326209,"objectID":"49841842","parent_id":49841220,"story_id":49831968,"story_title":"F-Droid 2.0","story_url":"https://f-droid.org/2026/09/24/f-droid-2.0-a-new-chapter-for-android-freedom.html","updated_at":"2026-09-29T02:30:54Z"}],"hitsPerPage":20,"nbHits":1810,"nbPages":50,"page":0,"params":"query=Google+Play+review&advancedSyntax=true&analyticsTags=backend","processingTimeMS":40,"processingTimingsMS":{"_request":{"queue":4,"roundTrip":25},"afterFetch":{"format":{"highlighting":1,"total":2},"merge":{"mergeLoop":{"prepareNextHit":1,"total":1},"total":1},"total":1},"fetch":{"query":8,"scanning":29,"total":38},"total":40},"query":"Google Play review","serverTimeMS":46}