Google has decided to make change to its app submission process by adding human approval as a new step. Starting a couple of months back, a team of reviewers at Google started reviewing all applications before they were allowed to go live on the Play Store.
“We started reviewing all apps and games before they’re published – it’s rolled out 100%, and developers haven’t noticed the change.” said Purnima Kochikar, Director of Business Development for Google Play. After implementing the new review system, Google has still maintained its superiority in speed over rivals, Apple. Developers are able to get their apps live within a few hours of its submission on the Play Store, unlike Apple which has lengthy review process.
The reason Google has been so successful at this is its autmoated software that can detect only malware, but also sexual content and infringement of copyrights. Kochikar was not very coclusive about what all Google can detect through its automated detection softwares.
She said, “We’re constantly trying to figure out how machines can learn more,” explains Kochikar. “So whatever the machines can catch today, the machines do. And whatever we need humans to weigh in on, humans do.”
Google also lauched a new age based rating system for the Play Store that is supposed to come into effect in May. The system will be based on the scales provided by a given region’s official rating authourity. App developers will be required to fill in a questionnaire about the objectionable content in their app before submission and return the most appropriate rating for the app.
Googel has said that it will keep an eye on the ratings being given out by the new questionnaire system to make sure that the developers are truthful while filling out the questionnaire. Their will be a grace period for applications which are currently their on the Play Store, but soon, new submissions and updates to the Play Store will require developers to fill out the questionnaire.
