Google removed former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign app from the Google Play Store on Wednesday. He was not removed for any of the many other reasons why Trump was removed from the biggest platforms in the world, but because it just didn’t work, Android Police reports.
Before its suspension, the app provided campaign news, a schedule of events and ways to donate to the campaign, but at some point it stopped working, prompting Google to withdraw it. Android Police confirmed that the app was not working before Google removed it. When Android Police tested the app, it was “unable to load content, reporting a network error or simply rotating a loading ‘T’ indefinitely.” The iOS version of the app is still on the Apple App Store and still working, though.
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It may not be surprising, but apps need to maintain “minimal functionality” as part of Play Store policies, which means they must upload and respond. Google has provided a statement for Android Police about why you removed the app:
The Trump 2020 campaign app recently stopped working and we contacted the developer several times in an attempt to get them to address the issue. People expect apps downloaded from Google Play to provide a minimum level of functionality, and our policy is to remove apps that don’t work from the store if they’re not fixed. “
While there may be a desire to connect the removal of the app to larger political reasons, such as Trump’s second impeachment or even previous cases of the former president being removed from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, this is simple moderation of the app store at action: When an application doesn’t work and developers don’t update, it is removed until further notice. Since the 2020 campaign is over, don’t expect the app to be updated – at least until 2024.