App Cloner is a pretty popular app for Android users as it lets you duplicate an installed app in case you have more than one account for said app. But it looks like Google isn’t happy with what the app is doing (despite earning a bit from them as well) as the Google Play Store has apparently unpublished it for “policy violations”. The developer is contesting this as expected and says that the communication and customer service from Google is not as clear as you would expect it to be.
If you’re not familiar with the app, from the name itself, App Cloner lets you clone an already installed app that won’t let you sign in with multiple accounts. It is estimated to have more than 5 million downloads with an active user base of 750,000 and 2,000 concurrent users at any given time. It has a 4.06 star rating and that is pretty good for any app of course. The developer also says that it earns tens of thousands of dollars every month and as we all know, Google takes a 30% cut off that.
You would expect Google to give good customer service for developers that give them revenue but apparently that’s not the case this time. The App Cloner developer says that Google initially contacted him last October 19 to say that he was violating the Device and Network Abuse policy. He removed a functionality he added in the recent update as he thought that was the issue.
He was then instructed to publish a new version to trigger a review and he will be contacted within 24 hours if there was any violated detected. But there was no contact despite follow-ups from the developer, until the app was eventually delisted. He appealed to Google but it was eventually turned down as of October 31. The problem is that there wasn’t any instruction on how to fix the supposed policy violation.
As of this writing, the app is still unpublished and no update has been given. So for those who have not downloaded App Cloner yet, you will have to just find an APK if you want to.
VIA: Android Police
