For anyone who has downloaded apps or games from the Google Play Store, some are familiar with that sinking feeling of having downloaded junk or something that turns out to be totally different than what was originally advertised. But there are new rules in place, and bad apps may start to disappear.
Apps R Us
As a comparison, before an app is uploaded to the iTunes Store, developers must go through a stern submission process and meet specific guidelines before the app is allowed to go public. For the Google Play Store, it was virtually a free-for-all where anyone could upload content without heavy restrictions.
On the upside, this provided a good deal of content for the Android community. The downside was some of these apps were used to cheat users out of their money or serve as vehicles to spam users with ads to upgrade their content for additional charges.
One bad app spoils the bunch
Because the field was basically wide open to scams and inferior app content on Google Play, the overall user experience, for some, was less than acceptable. To turn things around Google Play has enacted new guidelines to weed out the good developers from the bad ones.
What’s new?
Developers must now abide to guidelines that prohibit them from mimicking or pretending to be other apps, spamming users with fake systems notifications, forcing users to view an ad before the app can be used, divulging personal user information without permission, and other restrictions.
What’s the penalty?
For developers who ignore or violate the agreement conditions for publishing apps, their apps will be removed from the Google Play Store.
But for visitors of the Google Play Store, there won’t be a significant change in the way things run until the enormous backlog of apps are screened.
Via NBC News
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