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I made a free shopping list app its not open source as ive lost the source...I made this about 10 years ago. Play store basically shadow bans completely free apps from small developers without adverts as far as i can tell. This is the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flabbyfish...

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Do you have some evidence of that or is this rather a feeling of yours? (Genuinely interested)

I've noticed this as an end user. If I want to find a working free android app, I check FDroid first. The android store probably has whatever I will find, but it's usually hidden below dozens of completeley broken ad / surveillance supported ones.

Can devs pay for placement in the android store or something?

Play store search seems to filter result by location and sometimes even if you type the exact name it does not show you the app and if you visit the link from the developer site it does appear just not on search.

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