

Ask HN: I'm cloning my own app into 10x new apps. Is it allowed on Google Play? - makuchaku

Hi everyone,<p>I have made a decently fine app in my free travel time : Memes for Whatsapp - https:&#x2F;&#x2F;play.google.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;apps&#x2F;details?id=com.makulabs.chat.memes.pro.for.whatsapp&amp;referrer=hn<p>App lets you search memes, share them on various chat apps, etc. I&#x27;ve also added a bit of Facebook audience network for Ads.<p>I am now building a script which will make copies of the source, replace string files &amp; some selected assets to generate a brand new app (with a new package ID) which does something brand new but on same lines as of the original app.<p>ORIGINAL App : search and share memes<p>NEW CLONE Apps : [search and share inspirational quotes, search and share devotional pictures of gods, search and share pictures of new clothing styles, search and share hollywood actress pics, etc]<p>All of these cloned apps will have separate ID&#x27;s, tracking, etc - but will be based on my original source code.<p>Objective is not to repeat myself. Bug fixes are easier, generating new APK&#x27;s for all is like just running a script, etc.<p>*BIG question : Are apps produced from such a process acceptable on Google Play (specially since the manual screening has started)?<p>Thanks in advance!
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makuchaku
Update - so I wrote scripts to do this and now I have 5 apps live which are
"generated" from the same code base.

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cweagans
Just keep it in one app and do in-app purchases for different content packs.
Much easier.

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makuchaku
Thanks for the idea.

But what if the ideas don't have a common audience? Like devotional apps need
a different audience than funny pictures app.

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cweagans
Religious people don't like funny pictures?

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caspercrf
I'm not sure about the cloning, but having the names Whatsapp and Twitter in
your app name could get the app banned.

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makuchaku
As per the Google Play Guidelines, having a brand word in a formation like
"Foo for [Brand]" is valid. See last section on this help page
[https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-
developer/answ...](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-
developer/answer/2985717?hl=en)

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caspercrf
That's good to know. I have 6 apps out that are all made from the same source
code, but each one has a couple of changes and all have different icons and
images. People used to make cloans of live wallpaper apps, but most of them
got the developer banned, so I don't really know what the line is for
duplicate apps.

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makuchaku
Would you mind sharing links to your apps? It'll be awesome. Thanks

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CmonDev
And are you worried about ethics?

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makuchaku
Not ethics - but I am just trying not to trip any Google Play Guidelines & get
my app banned :)

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alain94040
Nice touch, putting a referrer tag for HN in your URL.

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makuchaku
Everything should be measured. No? :)

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feld
don't fill up app stores with this cruft

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makuchaku
What you think is "cruft" might be of important usage to others. Please don't
be so fast to judge. You don't know content usage patterns around the world.

