Play Store letting some app developers temporarily make their paid apps free
androidpolice.com/2017/02/10/play-store-letti...
androidpolice.comPosted Feb 10, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC
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androidpolice.comThis is interesting especially since apps seem to be able to now show the sale expiry date to users.
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Hasn't the play store been doing this since 2015 for the free children's app of the week? Android Police even wrote an article on it back then:
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Today's article is discussing an education app. So is this actually anything new?
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Yes. The old system was through the promo codes feature, basically a workaround. This is completely native.
Edit: But it is possible this feature is specific to the free edu app of the week promo, it's not clear. We've updated to clarify, but this could be a false alarm after all. The feature itself is definitely new, it's just impossible to say at this point if it's something Google created only for this existing education app promo or if it's something that could be made more widely available at a later time.
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Something strange I noticed: the guy who tipped AP 2 years ago in your link is the exact same guy who just tipped them again, but made no mention of his prior discovery in the comments either.
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Yes, I just made a separate comment but I think this is what I was remembering.
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That's awesome. It's basically a free trial so you can try great apps before you buy them. The only problem is that developers need to embrace this. If they do however it will be awesome
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Different from free trials, the app will remain as "purchase" after its set to the original price. Its the same as the App Store.
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So could I install it during the free period, immediately uninstall and it will stay as purchased in my history forever if I need it later on?
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That's how it works on iOS. It's also how it works on the Amazon Android app store.
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I never realized that there was a reason that the sales were all for 10 cents and the like. I'm surprised that setting an app temporarily to free isn't already possible - I'm pretty sure the Apple App Store has worked that way since almost the beginning.
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Yeah possibly but not sure
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At first I thought, "wasn't that already a thing? I know I picked up paid apps for free as a promotion before..." but then I realized that was on iOS and I am an idiot.
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How's your nexus 6?
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Running like a dream on Pure Nexus! I love that killer whale.
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Nice. I'm still stock but will unlock and get lineage when there are no more updates.
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We have definitely not seen this before.
I thought we saw it a couple of years ago when Google was promoting something kid-related or educational. I certainly remember a paid app or two going free for a time, and it caught attention because it hadn't happened before.
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[removed]
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Is there a way to see all the paid apps that are free because of sale? Like a section where I can find those apps?
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Boost install and good reviews?
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I thought the point of paid apps not being able to be given away was to avoid the inflation of install numbers to make the paid app 'look better' by having more (free) installs than were actually paid for?
... That certainly seems like a problem that would definitely be abused.
Perhaps each install would only count for half a usual one, or some other sort of number fuzzing? You know, like Reddit used to do (and still does in some way or the other).
Well, I can just give users promo codes to my paid app and also get more downloads.
Afaik you can't generate unlimited promo codes, though. Don't they cap you at a few hundred or so a day/week/month? Sorry, not sure of the specifics
500 a quarter, I think