I get doing more to verify developers (ignoring what I think of DUNS).
But acting as an individual developer if I were to think of creating an app for Android and saw that I had to publicly post my phone number that would be an absolute dead stop to development.
Still, it’s a win for less technical users -- who ostensibly have never installed an alternative store -- considering they’ll be less likely to recognize scammy apps like the flashlights of old.
I think there is another point that it eases support contact for users to developers. But I disagree with that, I think. The developers should be able to decide for themselves how to provide that information, as well as what to provide.
But then that has issues considering developers who might choose “send a letter to this PO box”, so there still has to be some verification that it’s not “too” inconvenient to the end user. From that angle, Google might prefer to dictate these terms.
I see that Google likes to be heavy-handed (and is being so), which I don’t like to see, but this might actually be a positive for someone other than Google (or their business partners), which I do like to see.
That being said, I’m not sure if the positive outweighs the negative. I also suspect Google’s intentions (to say the least) and consider that they really like the extra phone numbers they’ll get people to cough up. It’s certainly interesting to think about.
It’s publishing real world addresses or phone numbers that really worries me. Either you have to give up your privacy and possibly be in danger or pay extra to avoid it by buying a phone number or a PO Box somewhere.
Before you submit your app, you must:
Accurately provide your developer account information, including the following details:
* Legal name and address
* D-U-N-S number, if registering as an organization
* Contact email address and phone number
* Developer email address and phone number shown on Google Play where applicable
* Payment methods where applicable
* Google payment profile linked to your developer accountSurely not. But it needs clarification.
2. If you don't want your personal phone number published, which is perfectly justifiable, provide your business phone number. Don't own a business? Go and register one at your local government office. It's probably better for you to publish software under a business instead of your personal name anyway.
What you want to do is publish your software without divulging your personal information. The proper way to do that is run your own business (eg: "Colanderman, LLC") and use that to satisfy public information requirements.
Note, if I'm misunderstanding you as to your desires then I do apologize. The overarching subject of discussion here is Google Play Store demanding phone numbers and other such information be publicly displayed, so I'm conversing with regards to how to satisfy that properly without divulging your own personal information.
I get that certain legal things require publicly associating a legal entity with them, but Google Play Store historically hasn't been, and it's entrenched itself as an effective gatekeeper for software deployed on most mobile phones. Changing their policy adds a frustrating and needless barrier for hobbyist developers.
(Remember that registering an LLC entails a yearly cost in many jurisdictions. It's not free, and I can't afford to pay it for something that's not a money maker.)
This is terrible situation for "just" publishing a software. Fortunately, we can use alternative app store on Android, but it's not widely used (at least in western worlds).
Individuals: "Google will display your legal name, your country (as per your legal address), and developer email address on Google Play. If you decide to monetize on Google Play then Google will display your full address."
Organizations: "To help improve transparency and user safety on Google Play, Google will display your legal name, legal address, developer email address, and developer phone number on Google Play."
Presumably you could use a PO box but like paying for a second phone number that's another cost to keep small developers out of the Play Store. I imagine most parents won't want their teenager who made an app publishing their phone number and home address on the internet.
If the publisher takes money from their end-users, now more accurately their customers, it is an absolute requirement that their street or mailing address be also displayed for further security and liability purposes. Wouldn't you want to know exactly where your money is going? Wouldn't your bank? Wouldn't your accountant? Wouldn't your tax collectors?
I agree publishing your home street address for all to see isn't ideal, but that is why many people have separate street and mailing addresses and why the wiser folks also run their own business to publish their products under to separate commercial liabilities from their personal liabilities.
You need to be 18+ to make a Google Developer account. If the app is monetized, said teenager would need to provide bank account information and deal with taxes, so the parents would need to be pretty involved in the process anyway.
Why? So people can call me? For what? Tech support? To ask if I exist?
I’m not answering that phone number. Im not signing up for it.
People in Hacker News complain left and right about all of Apple‘s policies and the hoops they make you jump through and how you have to pay $100 a year.
I have an app on the App Store. I don’t have to post my phone number and I don’t have to pay for a second one to ignore.
People on Hacker News rightly complain about Apple's store. But you are applying this double standard here. If you want to complain, complain better.