The Google Play Deals Bot responds to all app submissions on r/GooglePlayDeals with information about the app found on the store page. This bot also handles flairing deals when they are expired and removing posts that have under 1,000 downloads. It was written in Python by u/Swimmer249.
If you have any suggestions, feedback, or questions please leave them below!
Posted Apr 29, 2017, 9:17 PM UTC
Nice work, could you consider adding the store description to the bot's comment?
Not always obvious what an app does, and yes- I'm too lazy to follow the link.
Unfortunately store descriptions can get pretty lengthy and I don't want the bot's comments to be too long. I'd like to pull the short descriptions that appear on mobile devices but I don't think I can get them with the way the bot works right now.
I know of a way where I could get this to work and some other features that I would like but I would have to rewrite a decent portion of the bot and I'm not sure if that will even work. We'll see!
Could you have it only pull in the first X characters of the description? Some of the app names and thumbnails leave me wondering what the heck the app does....and clicking on every one is a bit tedious. (Yes, I'm complaining about something I'm getting for free. FWP)
I was thinking that would avoid a major rewrite, maybe?
Sure, I can do that! It won't work for every app but should be helpful.
It's been added! Let me know if it's too short or long. Currently it's a 400 character limit.
Very cool. Thank you!
Good work! Is there a way to unmark a post as "Expired"? Like responding "Working" or sth like that
I can definitely add that!
Thank you!
Did you add this, because somebody just responded "expired" to a deal that definitely hasn't!
That's alright. That user has to reply with "expired" to the bot, not the post. That post hasn't been flaired as expired and if it was you'd be able to tell the bot that it isn't expired to fix it.
Love the bot! Is there a way to scrape a few prices from non US markets to see if it's on sale elsewhere? Perhaps some key ones based on user subs, Canada, UK, Aus?
Is the source for this bot available somewhere? Just interested in how a Reddit bot works
Not right now. But, I wrote it in Python using PRAW to access reddit. There's some simple bot examples on that site, I'd recommend checking those out.
Thanks that's what I needed!
Cool, nice bot.
But if it removes all apps under 1000 downloads, imagine how many icon packs I'll miss out on. /s
Great work. I'm so glad to see something like this exist. However, I'm confused by the potential banning for abusing the bot.
For example, I would kindly reply with expired apps, if they were not free. But, this may be regional, so I would get it wrong. There's no way to distinguish a global discount versus a regional one.
How could I report without being banned if the app is in fact regional only?
I'd say just to play it safe and only report deals you are sure that are expired. You won't be banned if you're wrong once or twice it's just meant to deter trolls.
Can you add a way to reply "expires in X days" or "expires in X hours"?
Also open source it perhaps?
That's a great idea! I'll definitely consider it. I haven't posted it on github because my code is a mess and it's really nothing special but one day I might.
Is it possible to add a link that will open the deal in the Google Play app as an alternative to the title link that only opens in the browser? Or is that an issue just with my phone?
Definitely your phone. Try to clear the default app settings from your reddit app and browser.
Add what permissions app needs
That's a feature I want to add but I'd need to rewrite how the bot works so I'll try it when I've got some free time.
Price history would be a plus.
This bot is great. Thanks for making it.
How difficult would it be to get the permissions?
Oooh, I hadn't considered that. It looks like it might be doable but it will take some time if I can figure out a way. Thanks for the idea!
That would be really helpful if you can get it to work.
Thank-you!