Uploading an App to Google Play [2] - Once you've finally uploaded it.

This is about what happens once you've created your app's store listing, created keystore keys, designed icons of the very specific sizes Android requires, taken screenshots, and you're really happy about having uploaded your app.

Oh the joy of making an application :D You feel proud, because you've actually built something. Something with your very own hands. (Fingers to be precise :P - We're not craftsmen anymore, that actually build a tangible structure carving wood or welding metal - everything most humans create now is for a world we've created - the virtual world. Ah but I'll leave this for another blog.) 

You've spent days, if not weeks(months, maybe?) on developing your application from scratch, planning, implementing, and finally making it Google-Play-Ready. Now believe me, that isn't easy. Creating a bare-bone app with zero UI and crap code for extremely fast prototyping is easy, and I am usually done with the skeleton in 2 days. But making it an app that can be used by any person from any walk of life, implementing Google's Material Design, challenging.
The entire process of developing the application from scratch is much like a parent who  plans out how they're going to bring up their child. 

You plan how you'll bring him up, which school you'll send him to (analogy - which Android libraries you'll use), and the moral values you want to inculcate in him (think - Android Permissions, maybe? haha). You send him to university, your creation is finally ready to leave its nest. You're proud of all the time you've spent, some long frustrating days, some fruitful ones. You think you're all set, and your creation is ready to see the world from it's own eyes. 

And boom.

The very next day your creation gets suspended. 
You don't understand why, because The Disciplinarian (yes, capital T, D) chooses to tell you ambiguously what the reason may be, but does not pin point as to what offence has been committed. You're upset, you think of where may have gone wrong. You don't understand, and you try writing to them. You fill up a long form, and this is what you see.

Alright. 
First reaction. Fuck you, Google.
Maybe they're doing this to prevent people from understanding their Suspension-Detecting-Algorithm. Maybe, but I find that unlikely. But hey, come on. You catch a thief, you tell why you're throwing him into prison, right? You have to tell me what I'm doing wrong! And oh, the threats they give. If more than a threshold number of your apps (the exact number I'm yet to figure out, hope I don't. Fingers crossed.) get suspended for whatever reason, Google may ban your Developer account, and subsequently your GMail account. 

Such threat. Much scared.

I'm developing this aversion to Google and its policies. 
First this, then their snail-like (No wait, turtle-paced. Mm, sloth? No. Excruciatingly slow. Yes. That.) paced hiring procedure. That's for another blog though.

Ah. Anyway.

Here's a guide for all developers to not fall into this trap. 3 apps of mine have been suspended so far, and I've felt terrible each time. So here's what you can do to prevent this from happening to you.

• Descriptions, and Graphic Assets (screenshots, icons, banners) - Do not copy them. Because, while copying, you are most likely to taking things off of a Google search. Even if you're not, Google has indexed the entire layman's Internet. Images, videos, text. So do not copy. Be creative. Plus, you've worked so hard on the application, and though I know publishing the application is the boring part - filling up all those silly details with specific image sizes, you might as well spend a day coming up with a good original icon.

• The Categories - If you're a beginner, your app is most likely to fall under the selected category. Big words that may scare you. Don't. You've probably just been caught for copying someone's logo, or another app's logo.

• Content Applications - If you're using a website's content that isn't open to all, please ask them before you do it. Give them credit in the app description, and maybe an about activity within the application. Though, I am not sure if Google detects this. An app that I made using this website's content got suspended (and hence this blog post, in such anger). Now I'm not sure whether it was the use of their content, or the use of a Minion copied off of Google (that I modified heavily) that made Google suspend my app.

Alright. That's it for this post. Much like the police don't want us to drink and drive, Google doesn't want us to Copy and Paste. Alright that was a crappy line. Almost cheesy. Haha.

Be creative, and don't get suspended!