I am a student and solo app dev, and I recently made a game on iOS that reached the top of the front page on Hacker News. I want to bring the game to Android, but am struggling with Google Play's policies for solo devs.
The one that is bothering me most is having to display my physical, home address on the play store for paid apps. I personally think this would be a pretty big security and privacy hazard, but there isn't any way around it that I have seen. There are also other things like requiring solo devs to test any new app with 20 testers for 2 weeks.
My Point Is: If I launch the app instead on the Epic Game Store / Amazon App Store, or even both, do you think the app can still be successful? Is it really possible to get good reach without the Play store, or will users just ignore the app if it's not on Google Play?
I am on iOS and don't know too much about the Android stores / user behavior, so any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!
Link to app for reference: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6720712299
Reddit link discussing topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/17w3pgz/google_...
If you think the app might make some real money you might want to think about registering an account with a business name and virtual mailbox address. I didn't read the whole thread above, but that comes up early in the thread as one option.
Boy am I glad I published my app before the 20 tester rule came in, and am slowly moving everything to a corporation to deal with having to make an address and phone number public -- this is primarily due to Apple and EU "trader" rules.
If you plan on making any real money, I would bite the bullet and go with org/corp.
Would it be possible to port your app to WASM and support Android via a browser?
They could text or call the number you provide and give you a code that you have to enter into your developer account for verification. They could do the same with the address by sending a code via postal mail.
I doubt they’ll go to the trouble, but it would be trivial for them to verify.
I don't have much experience with alternative app stores - and I suspect most of your users won't have either. It's hard enough to monetise on Google Play as it is, let alone on an app store that significantly fewer users.