The CyanogenMod Team have been forced to remove their Installer app from the Google Play store after warnings that Google would forcibly remove the app.
For those of you unfamiliar with the app, what it allowed was for users of certain Android phones to simply install CyanogenMod’s popular 3rd party ROM without needing any prior knowledge with ROM installation.
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CyanogenMod removed the app voluntarily after Google representatives warned they would do it unless the developer team complied. The reason for it’s removal, Google say, is that it encouraged phone owners to void their warranty.
The installer app will now be submitted to the Amazon store and Samsung’s own Android store.
[ Source ]
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Mmm… I guess Google doesn’t want to lose control over their Android environment. There are so many apps which require root and there are also apps available which root your phone in the playstore. I’m curious what will happen next.
Some positive Cyanogenmod news: CM10.2 is now pretty stable on the Xiaomi M2(S).
On my 32GB M2S everything works, even the camera (front and back) and wifi are working properly. Lets hope it becomes an offcial CM device soon!
http://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/rom-jb-4-3-cyanogenmod-10-2.22016/
You also need to understand that a lot of people may use CM Installer without them knowing that doing so will void their warranty. This move is, for me at least, logical for a company as big as Google. Im pretty sure if those root apps youre talking about get as much publicity as CM Installer, they too would be taken down.
The Verge actually went into a little more detail on why the Root apps stay and CM Installer had to go.
According to the ToS agreement of Google Play, any app that changes the core android system with user permission MUST be able to reverse that change. This is where CM Installer differs from Root-required apps, in that, it basically guides users into installing CyanogenMod which wipes the factory ROM, without any way of doing the reverse.
People in the know would probably backup their factory ROM first and then go to a Custom ROM, but those aren’t the people targeted by CM Installer (nor does it provide an instruction for reversing the process i.e. going back to factory ROM). So of course Google asked them to pull it.