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ma...@google.com
Any updates on this? It's been a month already since I reported it, and it seems this crash is occurring quite frequently for my users.
mo...@gmail.com
I am still regularly receiving reports about this issue, and it seems it has not been addressed in the latest 1.4.0-rc01 release.
mo...@gmail.com
Seems like a fairly easy fix on our end. I'll see to that it is fixed in 1.5.
ma...@google.com
POI is an upcoming category, as we announced at https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/01/building-apps-for-android-automotive-os.html , we are in EAP (early access phase)
So, if you have non-parking locations, the rejections seems accurate. I ack that the use case you have will be covered by POI which has much wider definition than parking. So, it might be easier to wait for category to launch, if you are running up against category rejection.
Assuming - you are adhering to the definition of parking (ie. where you park cars) - please continue to use the appeals process (from looking at your app that doesn't seem to be the case)
Also, we are working to improve the rejection messages to clearly tell you why your app was rejected. We made some improvements already like adding codes to each car app quality that landed yesterday
https://developer.android.com/docs/quality-guidelines/car-app-quality
When you are in pre-production tracks, reviews *do* happen and you should see some emails from reviewers with the feedback as well.
tl;dr; looking at your app, please wait for POI app category launch, you should have a smoother review process then.
So, if you have non-parking locations, the rejections seems accurate. I ack that the use case you have will be covered by POI which has much wider definition than parking. So, it might be easier to wait for category to launch, if you are running up against category rejection.
Assuming - you are adhering to the definition of parking (ie. where you park cars) - please continue to use the appeals process (from looking at your app that doesn't seem to be the case)
Also, we are working to improve the rejection messages to clearly tell you why your app was rejected. We made some improvements already like adding codes to each car app quality that landed yesterday
When you are in pre-production tracks, reviews *do* happen and you should see some emails from reviewers with the feedback as well.
tl;dr; looking at your app, please wait for POI app category launch, you should have a smoother review process then.
mo...@gmail.com
Yes, the app uses parking locations for geocaches... where you park cars to find a geocache. BTW, there is NO documentation anywhere that describes precisely what "parking" encompasses. Is "where you park cars" translated to parking lots/garages? It is all so vague. I suspect it will be the same for POI... no definition or clear understanding of what constitutes a POI so the app will get rejected for that also.
Are you really serious about continuing to use the appeals process after I have already sent in 5 appeals and still no response after a month of those? I have no confidence that even a new POI category will change anything. If only someone had communicated with me, I could have better explained the app and how geocaching includes parking. But even though appeal confirmation emails indicated someone would contact me within 2 business days, that never happened. The process is broken.
Apparently the pre-production track reviews *do not* happen. I had several beta releases in the closed beta track with the additional AA feature, but no feedback. The initial production release has the AA implementation also... my users are currently using the car app feature live in production... but no one stopped that release with the parking car app included. No emails, no feedback when it went live. The process is broken.
Instead of waiting for the POI category, why not allow my app to be included in the EAP phase now and allow the app to move forward if is is POI compliant... since the app with the AA car feature is ALREADY live in production?
Are you really serious about continuing to use the appeals process after I have already sent in 5 appeals and still no response after a month of those? I have no confidence that even a new POI category will change anything. If only someone had communicated with me, I could have better explained the app and how geocaching includes parking. But even though appeal confirmation emails indicated someone would contact me within 2 business days, that never happened. The process is broken.
Apparently the pre-production track reviews *do not* happen. I had several beta releases in the closed beta track with the additional AA feature, but no feedback. The initial production release has the AA implementation also... my users are currently using the car app feature live in production... but no one stopped that release with the parking car app included. No emails, no feedback when it went live. The process is broken.
Instead of waiting for the POI category, why not allow my app to be included in the EAP phase now and allow the app to move forward if is is POI compliant... since the app with the AA car feature is ALREADY live in production?
fr...@gmail.com
Although it's not a great solution, I would recommend making separate apps.
That way, an Android Auto issue will not affect the regular app / non-AA users.
These review issues are a bit too common, and remind me of iOS reviews.
That way, an Android Auto issue will not affect the regular app / non-AA users.
These review issues are a bit too common, and remind me of iOS reviews.
dv...@google.com
br...@google.com
Re-addressing after many months. I am a new product manager with car app library and I'd like to loop back if I can.
Have you been able to submit this application as a POI Parking application? It seems that a full featured app (on Mobile) - with a POI Parking solution (on Android Auto) - should be appropriate?
I'd like to try to address this challenge.
Have you been able to submit this application as a POI Parking application? It seems that a full featured app (on Mobile) - with a POI Parking solution (on Android Auto) - should be appropriate?
I'd like to try to address this challenge.
mo...@gmail.com
No, I haven't tried to re-submit the Android Auto component for my app. I got so frustrated before and there are other similar issues of non-descriptive rejections that I didn't want to mess with it again. But, if you are sincere about improving the car app process, I will try again in another month for a major new release coming out. My users have begged for some AA version of the app.
mo...@gmail.com
I am ready to try again to re-submit the app with the Android Auto component enabled again specifying the POI category. What is the best way to have it pre-approved so I don't go through the frustration from a year ago? Would putting it into the internal, closed, or open test tracks trigger the review process prior to submitting to the production release? I did this a year ago with no problems until after submitting an update to the production version which started the rejection cycles. Any advice on how to move forward would be greatly appreciated.
mo...@ecm-co.com
Hello,
I am having a quite similar issue but with an IOT application. Was your issue solved?
I am having a quite similar issue but with an IOT application. Was your issue solved?
Description
I have an app for the sport of geocaching that has been in the Play store for many years. I recently added an additional feature to display nearby geocache parking areas as an Android Auto car app that compliments the existing phone app. I followed the development protocol by putting the app in the Beta track before production. As I understood the AA documentation an app in a beta track would be reviewed by Google to insure it adhered to car app guidelines. Several betas were released in the track with no feedback/concerns by Google app review.
Since I assumed all was good I released the app to production. That went through fine just like the betas with no feedback or issues reported by Google. It appeared I had done everything correctly and the AA implementation was good to go. My users loved the AA feature! Later, I needed to fix other issues in the phone app and so I pushed those out to production... NO changes to the car app. I got an email the app was rejected. Two reasons: 1) messages didn't instruct user to be safe when using the phone screen; and 2) the app listed non-parking locations.
Then I went through various back and forth app submissions to resolve the issues. I formally appealed the rejections to better explain what geocaching was and how geocaches have parking coordinates, and I also updated internal user instructions to be safe. This happened several times with recurring rejections... sometimes with wording still incorrect (no issue with parking though), and then a rejection with the parking issue, but no wording problem. The reasons for the rejections were inconsistent as if different reviewers had different opinions as to what is a quality car app.
I have submitted three appeals to date... there has been NO responses to any of them. The first one was 12 business days ago, the second appeal 7 business days ago, and the last was 3 business days ago. On each appeal, there is a confirmation screen the appeal was received and that the AA support team would respond within 2 business days. I've tried to patiently wait, but I am getting no return emails from Google support. I even did a AA survey to explain there is something wrong with the process.
The review/appeal process for car apps is apparently broken. I should have been notified in the beta track there was a problem with the car app. The app should also never have been released to production if there was a problem. So now my app is locked in review hell and I can't push out updates to other components of the app. I will remove the car feature if I have to, but that will certainly make some of my users unhappy since they have been using the new feature. I just need someone to contact so I know what to do.
Again, apologies if this is the wrong format to reach out, but I followed the official route with no results. If Google is really interested in having Android Auto a great platform, I should not be going through this when I do have an excellent use case for the platform.