Google is censoring Bluetooth on Android: the proof! |
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| Sunday, 04 July 2010 19:00 |
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One day of June 2010, our Bluetooth file transfer application for Android has been manually removed by Google from the Android Market without a reason. In the beginning, we thought it was one of the famous and common bugs of Android, due to the extreme frailty of the whole platform, so we were optimistic. After some days, our application still wasn't visible on the Android Market and with a further inspection we found that it was removed/hidden from devices with firmware 1.5 and 1.6: the 50% of the whole Android phones!!! (source: Android website)... We tried to contact Google itself in order to get an explanation, but the fun fact is that in the developer's back-office, there isn't a way to contact Google directly (for example by using a submit form or an e-mail address). Okey, let's try with the Android Market help forum: oh my god, the most hilarious support forum on the planet, where end-users and developers are fused togheter, and the official replies by the Google employees should be studied by cabaret artists. Therefore, for 2 weeks our application was not visibile on devices with Android 1.5 (Cupcake) and 1.6 (Donut), receiving dozens of e-mails from users every single day, but by trial and errors we found the period of time where Google (temporarly) disabled the stupid limit so our software was released and published on all devices: swish!!!
Yesterday, 3rd of July 2010, we have released a new version of Bluetooth File Transfer (Android) number 3.10: it doesn't appear on devices with Android 1.5 (Cupcake) and 1.6 (Donut). Holy sh#t, this time we would like to investigate deeper! We were almost sure that Google was censoring all Bluetooth applications in order to attach our software specifically, 3rd place on "Communication" category for 10 months, but we had to find a proof. Thanks to our experience of the past "2 weeks of boycott", by creating and publishing bug-finder applications, we have now created 2 simple but effective test applications called Test YES and Test NO, both compiled for the SDK level 4 (Donut), in order to unmask the Google's plan. Here is a short summary of these programs:
Well, believe it or not, here is the predictable results for the Android Market, after publication:
Ergo, any application with BLUETOOTH or BLUETOOTH_ADMIN permission in its manifest, does not appear in the Android Market!!! If you still have doubts regarding the censorship applied by Google on Bluetooth applications, first of all you can download these 2 test applications, make some changes, compile and publish them by yourself, then observe the results on the Android Market. Moreover, you can search for "Test YES" and "Test NO" applications, released under our company name "Medieval Software", and you will notice that Test NO is visible everywhere and Test YES is not visible on old smartphones with Android 1.5/1.6. Here is some screenshots, just to prevent a probable burke from Google:
This post is long enough, but a lot of you probably already understood the business consequences of this kind of censorship applied. Note, we still have not received any official communication from Google nor excuses: we are losing ranking, downloads and customers every day and we don't know why!!! We have a lot of questions, for example "why are you censoring only Bluetooth permissions?", but no one will surely reply to us... We hope that a lot of developers out there are now aware of what is happening on the Android Market. We are now ready to publicly share our extremely bad experience of over 1 year of development on Android, and we are almost sure that companies like Apple or Microsoft are glad to hear our history and write down an "unsuccess story". Google has trampled our rights without a reason, at the moment (3rd July 2010), our application is the only one Bluetooth software kicked out from the Android Market. Maybe is it a form of racism against Italians people? Don't you like medieval times? Who knows? We want to thank all users and translators who supported us on Android during this year: you have been the fuel of our engine!!!
PS - No comments will be censored (excluding spam) and we are still ready to receive an official communication from Google.
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Hits: 16248 Comments (16)
  written by Ken Browne, September 07, 2011
Have used BT File xfer for several months on T-Mo G2 running 2.2. Got update to Gingerbread this week and it continued to work...for a couple of days. Now I get 'internal file server error' or "connection refused" when trying to send files from my laptop running Linux Mint to my phone. Uninstalled and reinstalled...still doesn't work. Could it be Google tampering? At one point the error was that I had to log back into my Google account, although I don't remember ever logging out of it on this phone.
 written by corps, August 04, 2011
I think it's maybe because of the whole bluetooth hack years ago, bluejacking. I find many apps don't work or are not available on the market but were available on simple symbian phones.
On the old SonyEricsson K750 you could go into somebody elses phone and steal files once paired. the abilities were removed from phones after that. Maybe the older systems 1.5/1.6 had flaws that made them vulnerable. Bad how they are not contacting you to explain the reasons why they filter your apps.
 written by Shubhajeet, January 28, 2011
Can anyone please help me ?
I am using Acer beTouch E110.. I need this service..how to use it..? Please help me guys.
 written by the one, January 19, 2011
Maybe they are wanting us to transfer our files over the internet instead, so that they can be controlled and monitored? Lol
 written by factory coach outlet, January 14, 2011
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 written by Tyra Misoux, January 08, 2011
Since the Test-Apps are also censored this is the proof it is not because of italian companies or because of the company name. I think there are api-version or security reasons.
nevertheless you are right about contacting google officials. Thats kinda helplessness. btw. I just downloaded from google market and on the journey looking for ad-free version....
 written by Dave Brown, November 08, 2010
Oh, sorry... I see you were talking about only 1.5/1.6 devices. Indeed, all the Bluetooth classes say "Since: API Level 5" which is Android 2.0 release 1. So it sort of makes sense that applications that require BT privileges would also be restricted OSes with API levels that include the BT APIs. But I'm probably missing something key to what's got you upset. Thanks for a great application regardless!
written by Dave Brown, November 08, 2010
No problem finding "bluetooth medieval", downloading and installing 3.95 version from marketplace today (November 8 2010) on a "T-Mobile (HTC) G2 with Google" Maybe you could/should update this page?
 written by SuperS_5, October 18, 2010
Found the app, and it works on my phone (Garminfone) This phone has been rooted, kinda. It has to be rooted every reboot, and the app was installed without re-rooting. (Android 1.6....mostly)
 written by john, August 19, 2010
does bluetooth file transfer even work on cupcake and donut..? only thing i can think is that they remove it because it doesn't support it
 written by Ardan, July 17, 2010
That's not fair, thought. Surely, BlueFTP is the best bluetooth and file manager phone application I ever use. And it priced so cheap that affordable for everyone. I like Medieval. I'll be on your side! Hopefully, medieval could grow to one of the best software developer...
 written by arox, July 16, 2010
I agree with Ash Semien.
In the not so commonly used Symbian OS, Bluetooth viruses were very common. Keep waiting on that response, maybe it will be fruitful!
 written by Cho, July 13, 2010
Well, you guys are no better than Google at answering customers' questions by email. You shouldn't talk bad about your "bad" experience with Google because I have "bad" experience with you guys then. You guys do not answer my emails about questions regarding development.
 written by ash semien, July 11, 2010
perhaps it could be a security measure on Google's behalf to stop malicious software. NOT that your's is but I can see from a security standpoint where temporarily disabling Bluetooth apps could protect millions of users if a serious vulnerability existed.
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