Thread

The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week

374 points · 352 comments · inputmice

davidmurdoch · 1789565368 · focus · HN ↗
I'm partly to blame. I accidentally ran an illegal unregulated money transference service over Google Play.
It let users cash out their Google Play Credits for real cash, which I automatically wired them.
Someone then hacked in to a major bookstore chain, stole piles of Google Play Gift cards, activated them using their access, and used my app to get cash for them.
Luckily, the whole thing blew up on me before I got in serious trouble, rightfully so, and the app was removed by Google, then an investigation followed. A ton of copycat apps popped up immediately after, then a few months months later Google announced their app review process.
1. DrammBA · 1789567309 · focus · HN ↗
  I love how casually you're dropping this incredible piece of internet lore as if somebody asked you how's the weather.
  1. davidmurdoch · 1789567945 · focus · HN ↗
    Haha. I used to have some blog posts detailing things a bit more, but I let it die when Heroku cancelled their original free tier years ago.
    fnikacevic · 1789568810 · focus · HN ↗
    If you're inspired to rehash it here or another blog you'll have at least this additional reader.
    davidmurdoch · 1789583955 · focus · HN ↗
    <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220119132757/https://davidmurdoch.com/2017/08/05/about-my-dead-side-project-cashify/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20220119132757/https://davidmurd...
    eks391 · 1789575835 · focus · HN ↗
    A domain is only ~$12/year if you don't buy it through a scammy site like godaddy that adds fake fees or quadruples the cost after a year. WordPress is easy for blogs, or you can just vibe code something in an afternoon if you don't care to have comments. Even embedding forms or an emailing tool can be done statically. Heck, there's probably a free option out there for simple posting that I don't know about.
    forgotmypw17 · 1789593124 · focus · HN ↗
    The biggest costs are not the money, but the work and cognitive load of the thousand cuts it takes to not only bring all of this up, but keep it running, not to mention migrating the content.
    However/also, "only" $12 to some is a considerable amount of money to others.
    Onawa · 1789593795 · focus · HN ↗
    If its a static or client-side website, GitHub Pages is free and allows you to use whatever domain you have already own. Almost all of the websites I run are hosted on GitHub Pages. No maintenance required, and updates are as easy as `git push`.
    forgotmypw17 · 1789655876 · focus · HN ↗
    Having done this for multiple sites, there's still a lot of friction and gotchas in the setup process, and it's also not guaranteed to not break/rot (e.g. have to renew the domain.)
    You didn't use the word "just", but I still want to link this article:
    <a href="https://alistapart.com/blog/post/the-most-dangerous-word-in-software-development/" rel="nofollow">https://alistapart.com/blog/post/the-most-dangerous-word-in-...
    crtasm · 1789582796 · focus · HN ↗
    what was the url? asking for a wayback friend
    davidmurdoch · 1789583895 · focus · HN ↗
    <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220119132757/https://davidmurdoch.com/2017/08/05/about-my-dead-side-project-cashify/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20220119132757/https://davidmurd...
    MadnessASAP · 1789586132 · focus · HN ↗
    Wow! You managed to break almost every financial law and regulation in one go. That's amazing!
    rolandog · 1789642669 · focus · HN ↗
    Reminded me of Arrested Development's George Bluth's "Light Treason".

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