Introduction
Hello, I'm zmsoft. I registered as an Android developer at the end of last December.
Based on my firsthand experience with the new rule, I want to think through:
- Why the rule changed
- How the 20-person requirement affects indie developers
- Its effect on the app market
- What Google is really after
- How rules might change in the future
Who This Is For
Indie developers who registered (or are planning to register) after November 2023, and Android developers who publish on the Play Store.
The Purpose of the 20-Person Rule
First, let's look at what the rule is officially for. Quality assurance is stated as the goal:
We are introducing new testing requirements to ensure all developers can deliver high-quality apps.
Impact on Indie Developers
Let's think through what this actually means in practice.
My Experience: What I Did
To get through testing, I:
- Asked family members
- Researched how to recruit testers
- Joined social platforms
- Discord
- Used Google Groups for outreach
I started with the easiest option — asking family — but that wasn't nearly enough. After researching, I found Discord through YouTube, signed up, and started exchanging tests with other developers. But even that wasn't sufficient, especially since I was developing multiple apps.
What I Gained and Lost
What I gained: the assertiveness to actively reach out to other developers. What I lost: time.
The expectation from testing is quality improvement, but honestly, this kind of testing doesn't contribute much to software quality. What I got out of it was more personal growth — "I wouldn't have pushed myself this hard if the rule didn't exist" — rather than anything technical. But even so, the time spent hunting for testers was disproportionate. It simply wasn't worth it.
How Does It Affect Indie Developers?
As many have already noted, the number of people who register as developers and release apps is expected to drop significantly. But what concerns me most is that this process is time-consuming and contributes little to quality — it's work that doesn't pay off.
Effect on the App Market
What does this mean for the broader app market? To evaluate Google's stated goal of raising overall quality, you have to consider two competing forces:
- Filtering out low-quality apps (and developers)
- Time lost per developer
Google pushes the first and ignores the second — but is that accurate? I think the second effect is larger and will actually lower the overall quality of the market.
What Is Google Really After?
Would a company as sharp as Google really miss all of this? Of course not. The real motivation is probably something else — most likely, review costs. More apps means more reviewers. Now that the market is mature, that cost probably isn't worth it for Google anymore. My read is that Google chose this rule change to reduce review costs — using "quality" as a respectable-sounding justification — and shifted the burden onto indie developers who have little recourse.
How Might Rules Change Going Forward?
Expanding the rule's scope would further reduce review costs. Google has likely concluded that the market has enough apps and established developers, so reducing reviews of "new apps from new developers" probably isn't enough — they'll want to reduce review costs for "new apps from existing developers" too. If that happens, this stops being just a new-developer problem.
Closing
Thanks for reading to the end. I've put together a survey about the 20-person rule policy — I'd appreciate your response if you're willing.