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Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by onlyforthat on Sunday September 22, 2024 @08:15AM (#41616519)
I remember there was a publisher in Play Store who had very small apps like single digit kb flashlight, sudoku, calender, etc. I can't find them now. Those apps were really small all within <200kb
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by butz on Sunday September 22, 2024 @09:39AM (#41616994)
Google Play probably kicked them off for not using latest Android SDK or something. So many tiny and high quality apps were lost.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by johnisgood on Sunday September 22, 2024 @10:32AM (#41617342)
Google is not only killing their own projects, but other people's, too.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by refulgentis on Sunday September 22, 2024 @02:11PM (#41618795)
I'm no fan of Google, but it's slightly more complicated than that, there's a lot of security and privacy stuff that can't be enforced if your app was build 6 years ago and still slopping around.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by tourmalinetaco on Sunday September 22, 2024 @03:17PM (#41619239)
Does that really matter for a local-only 5KB app that only talks with my phone‘s flashlight, or reads sensor data? Now, maybe for the 500MB adware-filled “flashlight” app that connects to 100s of servers and demands access to everything my device can do, but that would be banned on any competent app store anyway.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by ninetyninenine on Sunday September 22, 2024 @04:27PM (#41619788)
No but enforcing policy is manageable. Enforcing reasonable security measures based on nuances and case by case situations is not manageable for an ecosystem of that scale.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by JoshTriplett on Sunday September 22, 2024 @04:41PM (#41619897)
I don't know if this is still the case, but at one point the permission needed to access the flashlight also gave access to the camera. And there aren't restrictions on network connections from apps. (I'd love to have app network access restricted by permissions, but that would be a large change.)

And in any case, Android has had built-in flashlight support for a while now, for any phone that has a camera with a flash. Is the "turn the screen bright white" style still useful with modern Android?

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by freedomben on Sunday September 22, 2024 @07:22PM (#41620941)
Kind of a side note, but flashdim is an amazing open-source flashlight app that everybody needs[1][2][3].

[1]: https://github.com/cyb3rko/flashdim

[2]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.cyb3rko.flashdim/

[3]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyb3rko.fl...

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by MrLeap on Sunday September 22, 2024 @06:19PM (#41620566)
It is if your flashlight's broke.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by ainka-ainka on Monday September 23, 2024 @09:07AM (#41625653)
GrapheneOS (https://grapheneos.org/) contains network access permission.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by epmaybe on Sunday September 22, 2024 @12:55PM (#41618260)
This is something that really bothered me - I had an app that was small and worked fine on the latest Android OS, yet they took the app and account down because we hadn’t uploaded a new version in a year. Appeals didn’t help
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by heyoni on Sunday September 22, 2024 @04:17PM (#41619716)
What was their reasoning?
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by jart on Sunday September 22, 2024 @05:34PM (#41620276)
To keep you running on the hamster wheel.

They'd ban Mozart and Shakespeare from the app store if they could.

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by bee_rider on Sunday September 22, 2024 @05:53PM (#41620406)
I don’t think that was their reasoning.

Like, Google, all these megacorps, they are bad, but we should at least argue against their actual arguments.

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by consteval on Wednesday September 25, 2024 @04:52PM (#41651755)
Their reasoning is probably security. They're working under the assumption your app takes untrusted input in some way, maybe over the network. Which isn't a bad assumption, I mean almost all apps do. Very few apps are true self-contained applications, like a calculator.

So then if there happens to be some vulnerabilities in an older Android SDK then your app is susceptible. They could patch back security but that's expensive after a while. Easier to force app makers to update their apps.

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by ryandrake on Sunday September 22, 2024 @06:17PM (#41620553)
3P app developers are also complicit. Often they deliberately cut off support for old OS's and old devices, because it's "too hard" to support them or whatever. Everyone seems to be working together to keep us on the hamster wheel.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by post-it on Sunday September 22, 2024 @09:10PM (#41621492)
Granted, it is hard. It's a whole extra version to QA on. If it works fine, fine, but if there are consistent negative user reviews on a version with < 5% market share, it's not worth it.

We don't support old iOS versions at all. We can't source new devices on old iOS versions so we can't reliably develop or test on them.

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by Narhem on Monday September 23, 2024 @12:17PM (#41627710)
Exactly how I feel about every new React framework. It’s strictly worse than using any other framework and every recruiter continues to ask for it.

Don’t want to speak too negative in regards to the orgs which use it but definitely wouldn’t be the best choice from an engineering perspective for a new project.

Sorry I am not a front end developer. I am a general software engineer please don’t effectively sabotage my career because Silicon Valley wants to make the entire discipline a group of hamsters learning tools which aren’t used by the largest organizations.

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by teqsun on Tuesday September 24, 2024 @08:43AM (#41635901)
> "It’s strictly worse than using any other framework"

If you actually believe that, consider yourself very lucky.

React, like any FE framework, can be implemented well or implemented badly.

React benefits from a very strong (imo the strongest) ecosystem, so if you set up your tooling and patterns correctly its fantastic.

Here's my personal preference: NextJS as the backbone, RTKQ as the central data retrieval/API calls/caching management, RHF for form handling, ag-grid for data grids, and MUI as the component library (can optionally switch this to any equivalent).

If components are designed sufficiently generic and customizable, RTKQ is used to keep data fetching on component instances, and central state storage is avoided as much as possible, it's a great system. Unless you just really hate JSX syntax or something.

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by PhasmaFelis on Sunday September 22, 2024 @06:12PM (#41620526)
There may not have been any. Individual app-store reviewers can block you any time they feel like it, the guy checking your appeal is the same, and none of them have any real pressure to behave unless you have money and corporate power behind you.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by ClassyJacket on Sunday September 22, 2024 @07:39PM (#41621035)
That's horrendous, but it fits with Google's method of releasing a product, immediately abandoning it, and shutting it down permanently a year later.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by azthecx on Sunday September 22, 2024 @10:04AM (#41617161)
I use the minesweeper, sudoku and solitaire apps from dustland design (search pub:Dustland Design) they're very minimalistic and clean.

There's also currency / unit converter and calendar by Sam Ruston which are in the same vein very good and clean.

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by bongobingo1 on Sunday September 22, 2024 @10:10AM (#41617190)
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by bcraven on Sunday September 22, 2024 @11:26AM (#41617697)
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by aorth on Sunday September 22, 2024 @11:35AM (#41617771)
The Simple Mobile Tools suite was sold to an adware vendor last year. Plenty of links to stories if you're interested, even here on HN.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by p4bl0 on Sunday September 22, 2024 @12:01PM (#41617944)
Yes, the SMT apps are slowly being forked over to the Fossify project: https://www.fossify.org/.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by Viliam1234 on Sunday September 22, 2024 @01:22PM (#41618451)
I can't even get angry at that, because it seems like just another popular business pattern:

* build a nice product

* become popular and gain trust with customers

* sell the company to a scammer

* profit!

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by valval on Sunday September 22, 2024 @04:34PM (#41619846)
I’d do that in a heartbeat. I have a family to take care of. My customers can follow me to my next project.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by JoshTriplett on Sunday September 22, 2024 @04:42PM (#41619911)
> I’d do that in a heartbeat.

> My customers can follow me to my next project.

If you are willing to sell your customers to an ad firm, why should they trust your next project?

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by valval on Saturday September 28, 2024 @03:27AM (#41678562)
Because I have a family to feed, and I’m on their side offering them valid replacement for the app they’ve now lost to ad giants.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by JoshTriplett on Saturday September 28, 2024 @04:47AM (#41678889)
If you sold the app to the ad company, the terms of the sale are almost certainly going to prohibit you from building a competitor. You'd have to start a new venture in a different area.
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by lambda on Sunday September 22, 2024 @11:34AM (#41617759)
Weird that their GitHub says "without ads", but the apps in the play store say contains ads. It looks like they're doing ads/paid model in the app store, are they ad-free from F-Droid?
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by zwirbl on Sunday September 22, 2024 @12:33PM (#41618147)
It was sold to an adware vendor that is milking the brand hard. Another one for the 'used to be great' pile
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by pwg on Sunday September 22, 2024 @08:28PM (#41621285)
They were forked to the "Fossify" tools from the version just before the adware takeover. All the "Fossify" versions are available on F-Droid:

https://search.f-droid.org/?q=fossify&lang=en

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by nine_k on Sunday September 22, 2024 @09:24PM (#41621554)
Install from F-droid :shrug:
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by Sarkie on Sunday September 22, 2024 @11:53AM (#41617886)
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by sprak on Sunday September 22, 2024 @12:45PM (#41618208)
This (Simple Mobile Tools) used to be a good set of apps. But it got bought up a an ad firm. The new, still ad free apps, are known as Fossify: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=729783837865432255...
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by bscphil on Sunday September 22, 2024 @12:58PM (#41618282)
I'm surprised to hear this. Fortunately it doesn't look like the source code itself got taken over [1], and of course F-Droid, which is always the best place to get any open source Android application, still has the same version as the latest Github release. [2]

These applications are blessedly feature complete, and I haven't noticed any issues being "stuck" on the F-Droid versions.

[1] https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-File-Manager

[2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.filema...

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by Sarkie on Sunday September 22, 2024 @03:03PM (#41619143)
Ah yeah.

Forgot about that!

Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by simonmales on Sunday September 22, 2024 @03:10PM (#41619200)
f-droid is a great way to find bloat free apps
Re:Flappy Bird for Android, only C, under 100KB by Self-Perfection on Monday September 23, 2024 @12:37PM (#41627920)
OpenIntents?