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Don’t Get Started On Your Covid-19 Based Android App Idea Yet!

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Jane Collen
Don’t Get Started On Your Covid-19 Based Android App Idea Yet!

Not all of them, but a lot of developers and businesses try to take advantage of Android’s relatively lax app publishing policies and jack in on trends by developing Android apps that capitalize on maximized user attention on a certain topic. Covid-19 presented a similar opportunity.

The world got startled and dazed as the Covid-19 pandemic run amok and locked down billions of people at home, while destroying whole economies sending them into spiraling recessions. All of this happened within months, leaving little time for people to comprehend as to what hit them so hard and so fast.

Obviously, people were hungry for information about Covid 19 and businesses took notice of this and they started developing content to suit such a drastic increase in demand related to the topic. Many plans were there to develop Android apps as well with many Android application development companies trying to scout for clients interested in it.

But Google put a big leash on their plans as it regulated the availability of such apps and content on its platforms.

The new Google policy for developers effectively mentions that any app related to Covid 19 has to be “published, commissioned, or authorized by official government entities or public health organizations.”

Google Removes Ad From Podcast Addict:

Perhaps the biggest enforcement of this rule was when Google recently moved on to rescind the rights of Podcast Addict, one of the most popular podcast apps on Android, to run ads.

The reason given behind this was that Podcast Addict had a section for Covid-19 based podcasts which were not actually produced by Podcast Addict but hosted by it. This became the reason for such a hit on such a popular podcast app that was already 9 years old and had close to 10 million podcast downloads.

And while Google SVP of Platforms and Ecosystems Hiroshi Lockheimer mentioned in a tweet that the targeting of Podcast Addict was wrong and was done due to a few kinks in the system and the app’s ad revenue account will be restored soon as well. On top of this, he also mentioned that the app will once again be available for download for users worldwide.

Not a Reliable Strategy:

Podcast Addict may have gotten special attention from Google owing to its large user base and a concentrated social outrage on the issue, but the fact that the app lost more than a week’s worth of revenue was something that raised a lot of alarms.

Such a strike could be devastating for smaller apps and with slow moving processes for appeals against such strikes and the murky nature of what gets approved and what doesn’t, it could be incredibly risky to pursue such an app idea right now.

Google’s algorithm that deals with such policies and issues have been notorious in the past as well for sending out unwarranted strikes on sites and apps that weren’t exactly disobeying any kind of policy. Policing it so rigidly is not so easy for Google, especially during such short timelines.

So What’s The Best Approach?

The best approach here is just to abstain rather than risk it.

Here you need to observe two different strategies.

If you already have an app that’s published and is earning a good amount of revenue from Google ads then make sure that you don’t have any Covid-19 related stuff on it at all. Even the slightest presence can raise issues and make you a potential candidate for a strike.

If you are in the process of developing an app, steer clear of any Covid-19 related idea no matter how enticing it might seem. It’s not worth the risk. Apps can earn a lot of money and it’s not wise to compromise such revenue opportunities to pursue something that can bring potential harm to such benefits.

 

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Jane Collen
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