As quickly as it disappeared, Koushik Dutta‘s popular ROM Manager app reappeared on Google Play Store. Though it is definitely good news that users will no longer be inconvenienced by an app that has suddenly gone AWOL, one can wonder why the app was pulled down prematurely in the first place.
Koush’s apps, ROM Manager and Helium, were taken off the Google Play Store’s listings because of violations of current policies surrounding offering users paid app purchases and in-app purchases. In particular, the apps in question were still making use of an old and now disallowed purchase method of using PayPal instead of, say, Google’s own payment service, Google Wallet. Accordingly, Google sent out a notification to the developer regarding the violation.
Koush admitted to have not yet complied with this new policy and was already in the process of addressing the problem. Unfortunately, while developers are usually given 6 weeks to take action, just 4 weeks after receiving the notification, the apps were suddenly taken down without any word. This did not sit well with Koush, who has already had run-ins with Google’s sometimes whimsical moves in the past.
That said, the apps are now back up on Google Play Store. Koush has most likely addressed the issues pointed out by Google, but it would have been nice if there was an explanation why the app was prematurely pulled down in the first place. It will probably be blamed on some sort of system error or glitch, in which case Google should make sure it doesn’t happen again, especially to devs who may not have as much as a public voice as Koush.
VIA: TalkAndroid
