- Google Play Store policy requires that all apps declaring the ability to send text and make phone calls directly without user intervention, or to receive texts and phone calls, require a manual review by Google staff. The MIT App Inventor Companion was one such app, and in spite of an appeal it was rejected.
- To comply with Google Play Store Policy, we decided to move the functionality around a bit.
- For initiating texts/calls, we created the SendMessageDirect and MakePhoneCallDirect blocks that do the old behavior that needs extra permissions. We chose to have the existing SendMessage and MakePhoneCall blocks launch the default apps via Intents , as recommended by Google policy, which should work for most people.
- For receiving, we made it so that apps would only get the Google Play Store red-flag-triggering permissions if and only if certain conditions were met:
- For Texting, the condition is that the ReceivingEnabled property must be either set to something other than Off (the default), or a block setting the property must exist in the code.
- For PhoneCall, if any of the events IncomingCallAnswered, PhoneCallEnded, or PhoneCallStarted are included in the code, the permissions are included in the manifest and, if Android >= 6.0, requested at runtime.
- Prior to this change, ReceivingEnabled was default Foreground, not Off. Therefore, older tutorials may not work since they assume the old behavior. People will need to consciously enable the receiving option to receive texts.
- The big challenge now was that people might want to develop apps for their own use that relied on the Google-censored functionality. This is where the “u” companion comes in. It is the companion as it would have been if Google hadn’t changed the Play Store policies. It’s the universal, unadulterated version, from which all other versions of the Companion derive. However, we can’t distribute it via the Play Store (as I mentioned, we applied for an exemption and were denied), so we only distribute it via the website. The “u” version of the companion allows live testing of apps that use the aforementioned functionality that Google has deemed questionable. In the Google Play published version, this functionality simply won’t work or will raise a permission error.
- The companion is only for live testing, the version you use has no implication for what will happen when you build an app. When you build an app, the buildserver analyzes the code and looks to see if it meets any of the preconditions for addition the permissions, and if those conditions are met, includes the permissions. At this point, if you were to submit your app to the Play Store, Google will flag it and may reject it. If you’re distributing it through some other means (or just using it for yourself), then it’s perfectly fine.
- Enabling the functionality is not equivalent to disabling “Google security measures.” All it means is that one will be required to go through additional review if one submits the app to the Play Store . If one doesn’t intend to do that, no harm, no foul.
If someone wants to make an app using the features that Google has deemed need further review, it is up to them to convince Google to grant an exemption.
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