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Well Known App Dev Team, Better Android Apps, Suspended From Android Market; No Reason Was Given

Tony Simons   /  August 5, 2011
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According to the Better Android Apps Blog the popular app development team responsible for some the hottest Android apps on the Market (Better Keyboard, Open Home, etc, etc), had their Market Account suspended and were not given a reason why. The excuse they were given was that they had committed violations of the developer agreement and policies.

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This is a very puzzling and disheartening piece of news for me, as I am a huge fan of their work. I hope that they get things sorted out soon, so they can get back to making apps. Good luck guys!

Keep reading for the full posting from their site.

A couple of hours ago, we received a notification email from Google stating that our developer account was suspended. We have no ideas what we did wrong!

Here is the email we received:

“Hello,

Your Android Market developer account has been suspended due to violations of our developer agreement and policies. You may view these terms here:
http://www.android.com/us/developer-distribution-agreement.html
http://www.android.com/market/terms/developer-content-policy.html

As a result, your developer account has been closed and your apps have been unpublished from Android Market. Please note that developer suspensions may span multiple Android Market account registrations. Please do not register a new developer account. We will contact you should your account become reinstated.

Regards,

The Android Market Team”

As you can see, there really isn’t any info about why the account was suspended. We will try our best to contact Google to find out what’s going on. We did some research on the Internet, and we found many horror stories (such as this, this and this) about Google’s lack of responses to developers after their accounts were suspended. We hope we will get some responses from Google, but our expectation is very low.

We are a small group of developers who have been developing apps for android since the very first release of android. As our name suggested, our mission is to improve the android platform by developing useful apps for it. We hope we can work something out with Google or at least find out why our account was suspended. In the mean time, please be patient with us and we will surely support our users no matter what.

If you want to help us out, please use the following form to ask Google market to look into this case and your apps. Thank you for your supports.

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/request.py?contact_type=market_website

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By Tony Simons
Tony is a mobile enthusiast with a passion for Android smartphones and tablets. He is the Site Founder and Editor-in-Chief, and can typically be found lurking in an Android development forum near you.
  • Madrak

    This might be a case of mistaken identity, it might also be Google responding to complaints of users on the Market. Like many others (judging from the comments in the market) I paid for Open Home 6, configured it, chose a theme, etc… and was using it without issue for several months. Yesterday I went to change my theme and was told that the feature was locked and that I needed to download an unlock key. By this time Better Android had already been banned so I was unable to view the item on the Market but apparently it cost $4. It is possible that the request for Google to look into this apparently improper practice (asking people to pay again for a feature they have already paid for) coming at the same time as the ban is purely coincidental, however it may also not be. I tried posting this same comment on their website, in the same language, and the moderators deleted it (I saw it on the page saying it was pending moderation, then it was gone and never appeared). Which to me, lends some credence to my theory.

    • http://www.omgdroid.com Tony Simons

      That’s crazy! I would have been upset about that, and I can definitely understand your theory. Paid apps should only have to be paid for once.

  • Little Droid

    “Better Android” are a repeat copyright infringer. You only need to look at their list of apps on e.g. http://www.androlib.com/android.developer.better-android-jqn.aspx to see that.

    • http://www.omgdroid.com Tony Simons

      If that’s true, then they deserve the suspension. But regardless I still think they should be informed as to why…. Unless they were and aren’t mentioning that

  • http://xandroidapps.com/fieldrunners-hd-apk fieldrunners hd

    I agree with your Well Known App Dev Team, Better Android Apps, Suspended From Android Market; No Reason Was Given | OMGDroid, wonderful post.

    • http://www.omgdroid.com Tony Simons

      Thank you very much!

  • Little Droid
  • TROLLZ

    BetterAndroid just needs to stop playing the victim. They clearly violated the developer agreement which they agreed to by submitting any Android app… Google is in the right here. BetterAndroid had committed multiple copyright infringements on material, and as per the agreement, they aren’t supposed to do that. and punishment for a repeat offender is suspension. granted they did have a great keyboard, but just because they are highly rated, doesn’t meant they are immune to punishment

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  • http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showuser=107345 ipad3

    Hey! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.

    • http://www.omgdroid.com Tony Simons

      @OMGDroid of course =)

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