Google has revised its Play Store rules. This is new:
Apps and their ads must not add homescreen shortcuts, browser bookmarks, or icons on the user’s device as a service to third parties or for advertising purposes. Apps and their ads must not display advertisements through system level notifications on the user’s device, unless the notifications derive from an integral feature provided by the installed app. (e.g., an airline app that notifies users of special deals, or a game that notifies users of in-game promotions).
I’ve never encountered any of these, but good to see them banned.
I HAVE encountered these things and they stink
Yeah, I always rip out the app as soon as I see this garbage behavior.
A normal person has a hard time connecting which installed app is causing the ad, so it’s great they’re going to be banned by ToS so they’ll get removed from the store once reported.
Exactly. As soon as I see such thing, I uninstall the app responsible.
And also vote it down.
Unless in the program description or during install process it warn me about ads.
To that end, I think Google needs to do a better job about informing users of which apps are infected with adware, so at least we know which ones to avoid.
The only time I encountered it (that I recall), was on Minion Rush, that kept reminding me 2x a day that Despicable Me 2 was on at the cinema.
The problem is, you didn’t even know the application was going to spam you either (it was never in the description).
This is a VERY good thing..
Every once in a blue moon I’ll install an app or game that has the ad shortcuts, the notifications or both. It doesn’t matter how fun or useful the app is, it gets removed immediately.
Hmm, did you know you can simply disable notification per-app? There’s a checkbox in Settings – Apps – an app. As for desktop shortcuts, I’m not sure I’ve seen one but they should be easier to remove than uninstalling the app. I don’t see what the fuss is about, you guys here should be no whiny noobs.
Keep in mind that this feature wasn’t introduced until 4.1 so there are a lot of people without this ability. It is a lifesaver, especially since most big name games have this annoying crap.
There was actually a company called airpush that offered a notification based ads as their model. It mostly got unused, I wonder if they’ll have to refocus their approach now?
I also tend to avoid apps with nagging advertisement, although in the latest Android versions it’s become less of an issue since you can now select which apps can show messages in the notification bar.
It was annoying when you would unlock your phone after hearing a notification sound only to find that (eg) GunBros was letting you know that there were some “awesome” deals on in-app purchases.
I’m not getting any of those kind of notifications now (and haven’t for a long time) although I’m not sure if that’s only because of said blocking feature or because I’m more carefully choosing what apps I install.
Slightly off-topic but Google relevant – it looks like Chromecast apps may face some tough restrictions imposed by Google.
https://plus.google.com/110558071969009568835/posts/ZeHgRXS6AZs
You do know you can submit news items, right?
This is great news.
Android was starting to feel like the old days of Windows XP.
The only type of that activity I had seen was a screensaver that set a shortcut to a website on my homepage. It was immediately uninstalled and negative review given.
Regardless I’m glad about the changes to policy.