Uploading my first #flutter #Android app to #Google Play as an independent developer - what a technical, bureaucratic, and legal nightmare. It’s just a small Bluetooth utility app for inventory management. There is no sign-in, and there will probably never be ads (maybe I’ll require a subscription in the future). Nothing is uploaded to the internet, not even anonymized usage statistics. Why do I need a Java KeyStore and can’t simply upload the code? Why do I need to build a website to contain a privacy policy and there is no default one? How can I tell if the 3rd party packages that I installed from your flutter website use “ad-ids”? Aren’t you checking the code’s xml files yourself for those ad-ids? Why do I need to fill my email in multiple forms to publish the app in #Canada , #EU , #California , etc. so users could query and ask to delete the data that I collect on them IF MY APP DOESN’T COLLECT ANY DATA. Must upload 6 screenshots of the app? Why? I don’t care if the app’s details page will look ugly while it’s in beta - I first want to let some friends and family install the app and they will probably suggest some design - only then I will want to take the screenshots. Does my app’s target audience include children below age 13? It’s a Bluetooth utility app, if some kid has some Bluetooth tags or smart buttons that he wants to manage, why not? Why not simply let me first publish the app to 18+ audience, and take your time to review the app before publishing it to kids? What did I pay $25 for?

#Android and #iOS have made the world much safer for end-users in the way each app runs in its own sandbox (compared to 20-30 years ago when we just downloaded .exe files and let them access our entire computers). But in the recent years, this space was taken from the builders and given to lawyers and product-managers that only push for more bureaucratic forms and more demands from the developers. 🤦‍♂️