The biggest difference between the App Store and the Google Play Store is that, whereas Apple reviews all of the apps that are submitted to its app store, Google has traditionally maintained a hands-off approach to regulation. That’s been a great way for Google to turn the Play Store into a more developer-friendly place, but it also has the negative effect of filling the Play Store with a lot of crap. That’s why, in recent months, the company has gradually started to increase the role it plays in regulating apps on its app store.
Since their inception, Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store have taken diametrically opposed positions when it comes to policing the content allowed into their respective online marketplaces. Whereas Apple, in natural fashion, reviews every single app submitted, Google has historically taken a more lax position, creating an open digital playground of sorts and opting to address issues after they arise as opposed to before. Initially, this strategy helped position the Google Play store as a more accommodating and developer-friendly marketplace. All the more so given Apple’s penchant for rejecting apps for seemingly arbitrary and contradictory reasons. Over time, though, Google has slowly but surely started to see the wisdom in Apple’s approach. While Google still takes a relatively hands-off approach to submitted apps, a recently updated version of its Google Play Developer Program Policies demonstrates that Google sees the merit in having stricter governing rules in place. According to Betanews, Google is now “clamping down on the problem of impersonation, making it clearer that it is not permissible to mislead users by imitating other apps, making false claims, or suggesting endorsements that do not exist.”
