Hackerskeyboard: Application removed from Google Play?

[olekolek1000]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard

[xenotropic]

F-Droid link for the meantime: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard/

[TPS]

Of course, since 1's reading this on GitHub _anyway_, https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard/releases

[queezz]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard

No luck there:
We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server.

Trying to install this keyboard on a new android device.

[tildar]

Hopefully there will be a solution soon.

[iryek219]

I wonder what made the app removed from the store.

[estridge2011]

http://apps-me.store.aptoide.com/app/market/org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard/1039003/22325340/Hacker%27s+Keyboard

[Steve-Fry]

+1
Workarounds are great, but not being on the play store is a deal-breaker for many.

It's a shame for such a great app to be missed.

[Jan69]

I really would like to know why it was removed...
I mean, other than the name, it has nothing special, there are quite a few other keyboards with function keys & ctrl & alt & stuff, and you can use literally any bluetooth keyboard and get the same functionality...(though imo, hacker's keyboard is still the best of the "full keyboard functionality" keyboards)...

[bryanyork]

@klausw Any comments here?

[klausw]

The app got delisted due to allegedly violating the deceptive ads policy. I've asked for clarification since it's unclear to me why this would be the case, especially considering that the keyboard doesn't show any ads.

[TPS]

@KlausW Is there someplace we users can write in to lobby to reinstate⁉️ It's obviously outrageous to delist for such foolish reasons, especially since there's objective evidence to the contrary!

[klausw]

Thank you for the support, but I think a petition isn't likely to help at
this point. While I'm still not sure what the alleged violation is, I'm
suspecting that it is interpreting the "Get Dictionaries" button as an
undisclosed ad since it opens a Play Store search. I've appealed but
haven't heard back yet.

>
While I'm tempted to restyle the button with garish colors and borders to
make it look more ad-like, I suspect that this would then lead to a
requirement to mark the app as "contains ads". I'll see if my appeal is
successful, if not I'll look into adding an interstitial with explanations
and/or removing the Play Store link entirely.

[TPS]

Maybe reword as "Get Dictionaries (always free!)"? Besides, don't most keyboards have downloadable dictionaries? Even GBoard has them, as _internal_ downloads, which I'd think are riskier than such from the Play Store.

[apgodshall]

Thank you for clarification, Klaus. In the meantime, the workaround I've employed is to back up from one tablet, share to my google drive, and then sideload to new devices from there. I'm also investigating building from source, which would be a good exercise as a step toward learning to program for Android.

[klausw]

@apgodshall While I don't want to discourage your building-from-source experience, you could also simply download the APK from https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard/releases :-)

[apgodshall]

Thanks!

Here's an idea for your Play Store "ads" issue, maybe just remove the links
to the dictionaries?

It's easy enough in the Play Store to select other apps by the same author,
so maybe you just mention that the dictionaries exist, in the description,
and mention that they can be downloaded separately.

On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 2:42 PM Klaus Weidner [e-mail]
wrote:

@apgodshall https://github.com/apgodshall While I don't want to
discourage your building-from-source experience, you could also simply
download the APK from https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard/releases
:-)

—
You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub
https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard/issues/668#issuecomment-432833364,
or mute the thread
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Best Regards.
This is unedited.
This message came out of me
via a suboptimal keyboard.

[TPS]

It's easy enough in the Play Store to select other apps by the same author,

Not always true; it depends on the phase of Play Store design: currently easy, previously impossible, previous to that reasonably ok, &c. However, as mentioned, maybe just moving the link to the Play description would suffice?

[Afrowave]

Whew! I downloaded the English pack without looking at the logo properly. Thanks @xenotropic for the APK. @klausw , have not fear, you are still "the man".😄

[Gomgoru]

Is there any connection between the removal of the app and the app crashing in kitkat 4.4.1? Or is it a "Loose nut behind the screen" problem? Or do I need to open a issue?

Thanks...especially tthanks for the keyboard program!

[zawawimanja]

I already read a lot of story in reddit about apps being banned eventhough there is no ads in it. Thats what happen when they use robot to banned and filter all the apps.

[aspentharealist]

@klausw this is a typical situation when it comes to "hacking" or "hackers". It could be just a coincident but I'm not surprised that the best "hackers" keyboard got taken down. It's a shame because it will definitely drive down the amount of people that will benefit from the keyboard. Most dont feel comfortable to download apk... But if there is anything we can do to help let us know and please update with any news from Gplay. Thanks man

[klausw]

Sorry about the delay. I did get human responses also, but they insisted that the "Get Dictionaries" button has to be changed. Unfortunately I can't just upload a minimal change to do this since there's a new rule requiring all updates to use target API level 26 (Android 8.0 / Oreo). The app is currently targeting API level 19 (Android 4.4 / Kit Kat), and I'll need to make sure that this change doesn't break anything.

The minimum API level is separate from the target API level and that's what determines if the APK is compatible with a given device. The current minimum API level is 8 (Android 2.2 / Froyo), but I may also need to change that in case of incompatibilities with the new target API level.

[klausw]

After many frustrating hours, I've gotten a build generated and uploaded to Play Store, and it's allegedly published. It may take a few hours to show up. The matching github release is 1.40.1 at https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard/releases, this includes the published/signed APK file.

This involved a major source restructuring to make it Gradle compliant, and ditching the old Ant build files in favor of the new system. This isn't quite equivalent, for example I haven't integrated the auto versioning support yet for the debug info page, but overall seems to work including binary dictionary support via JNI.

Let me know if this works for you, it's only very lightly tested.

[klausw]

Fair warning, the minimum APK level is now 14 (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich), which apparently excludes 5.9% of the current install base. The original level 8 was incompatible with the default libraries I got via Android Studio / Gradle.

[klausw]

FYI, I've also reactivated some completion dictionary packages that were offline due to missing Play Store metadata. Let me know if you're still having issues with any of the packages.

[jozic]

Thank you Klaus for all the hard work to get it back! We (your users) appreciate it very much!