If an app developer says, "Hey, you can use this app if you let me show you ads!" you can agree to that or not.
Google is committed to letting an app developer offer you that deal, and they're taking a step towards making sure you hold up your end of the bargain.
If a farmer's market set up shop in your town, and little kids stole the merchandise all the time, you'd want them to hire a security guard, wouldn't you?
And you can still install from the APK. So, you're really just whining that Google doesn't THEMSELVES make it easy for you to bypass the ad market.
Yeah, but no app developer is explicitly saying that.
> If a farmer's market set up shop in your town, and little kids stole the merchandise all the time
I've found that comparisons between physical theft and digital "theft" are always going to be flawed due to fundamental differences between the two domains.
Then they release it to users who have control over their devices and can modify how their device displays the app. Users are under no obligation to ensure that the app runs as-designed, and if it's not explicitly disallowed they should be free to modify how the app runs. They could modify it to show another language, or put tape over part of the screen to hide some content, or they could download a tool that modifies their hosts file to alter how the app runs.
Point being, you can't count on ads being shown to all of your users as you can't guarantee control over their devices. If you don't like that, then don't make apps that rely on ad revenue.
Removing this from the Play store merely makes it inconvenient.
Google is trying to make a convenient API for app developers to earn money by showing users ads.
Seeing an ad is an inconvenience to users, granted. They have several options: APK install, pay for the premium version of the app, find a no-ad competitor to the app, or just don't use the app.
You can download apps, or not download apps.
If an app developer says, "Hey, you can use this app if you let me show you ads!" you can agree to that or not.
Google is committed to letting an app developer offer you that deal, and they're taking a step towards making sure you hold up your end of the bargain.
If a farmer's market set up shop in your town, and little kids stole the merchandise all the time, you'd want them to hire a security guard, wouldn't you?
And you can still install from the APK. So, you're really just whining that Google doesn't THEMSELVES make it easy for you to bypass the ad market.