#Catima 2.39.2's release on #GooglePlay has been delayed due to the regular incompetent review program blocking the update due to "lack of provided login credentials for testing".

I've filed an appeal, stating that Catima is fully offline and has no accounts. We will see.

If you're a Google Play user, to be honest, please just use Catima from #IzzyOnDroid, #GitHub or #FDroid. The more people not on Google Play, the less power Google has on blocking updates :)

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to Sylvia

Guess folks who want timely updates, know better places to find them? 🤪

On the risk of repeating myself: gatekeepers of … err … sorry, my fingers refuse to add the word "security" to it… 🙈 If they cannot even get their own ship sailing, they should not want to steer an entire flotilla 🤷‍♂️ "Learn to keep your own room clean – before telling others how to clean the house", or so…

in reply to Andy

@Aendy I have used the GDPR before to file a complaint against Stocard for their incomplete export format.

It took years, so long that by the time it was done Stocard was sold to Klarna and the export format got even worse.

And because they had lawyers they won anyway, even though they were clearly in the wrong.

I love the GDPR in concept, and it does cause some great improvements, but from my experience the enforcement is way too lax. And if this takes years too what use is it :(

@Andy
in reply to Sylvia

Well, it's been 12 days of being refused over and over. Right now, I would really prefer people not use Google Play, so I put up an (at least temporary) warning: github.com/CatimaLoyalty/Websi…
in reply to Roo

@roo Google Play is definitely the most painful and least reliable platform. Getting random updates rejected for nonsense reasons has happened to me several times.

This is the second time an update gets rejected because I "haven't supplied an account", but the first time it gets insta-rejected over and over after my appeal gets accepted. But I've had other silly cases too: androidpolice.com/machine-tran…

The easiest store for me is IzzyOnDroid, really zero pain. F-Droid in second place. Google last.

@Roo
in reply to Sylvia

@roo I will try to keep supporting Google Play begrudgingly as long as I can because it is where most users are, but I don't think Google Play is a reliable source for FOSS apps. Google is quite hostile against hobbyist developers and I've heard more than a few horror stories of devs randomly getting banned and I'm simply waiting for my turn at this point, I feel it's more of a "when" than "if" with all the AI review nonsense.

I suggest izzyondroid.org/quickstart/ for anyone who likes FOSS :)

@Roo
in reply to Sylvia

Droid-ify and Neo Store ship both IzzyOnDroid and F-Droid as default source, so it is a huge collection of FOSS apps from more trustworthy places than Google Play right in a central place :)

(Though I still have to look into switching Catima to Reproducible Build on F-Droid so people can get updates outside of F-Droid too, but that is currently not something that can be automated for apps which originally shipped as F-Droid-signed on F-Droid it seems)

This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to Sylvia

And that corporation wants to be the gatekeeper, defining what is safe and what we're "allowed" to install (using the crappy term "sideloading", triggering my wish to use a side-mount and pulling _that_ trigger – lacking a harpoon for that unfortunately, though).

Honestly? They cannot even get their own stuff together properly, but claim to be the able to "safeguard" of _ALL_ stores/repositories/install-sources? They must be kidding! 🤦‍♂️

in reply to Airikr

@airikr Sadly, most people are on Google Play. And as much as I'd like for people to treat themselves well and use a *proper* safe and user respecting app source, I think forcing people who don't know IzzyOnDroid or F-Droid to put up with tracking invested apps only helps abusive companies.

Also, it's protecting the "brand" a bit. Google's moderation is horrid, they'd 100% let a fake Catima in if the real one wasn't there.

It is definitely a sacrifice for me as a developer though...