Andriod maker, Google has deleted Adamu Garba’s social media app, Crowwe from its play store.
The removal comes weeks after the founder touted the app as an alternative to the banned microblogging platform Twitter in Nigeria.
The Crowwe app has been described as an instant messaging and financial transaction app that comes with a digital wallet that helps to transfer and receive money while chatting has received worst reviews.
Policy violation?
There has been no official announcement on the reason for the removal but Google Play policy revealed that the company removes applications that it perceives to have violated its policy
“Once your app is removed, the published version of your app won’t be available on Google Play until a compliant update is submitted,” Playstore policy states.
It added that it will not republish the app until the policy violation has been fixed.
The founder of the app, Mr Garba, however claims that it did not violate any policy in a conversation with The Peoples Gazette. He claims that the company was simply being updated.
His answers, however, seems far fetched as Google itself doesn’t require an app to be deleted completely from the store before an update is uploaded.
“Once your update is available, users can download the update on your app’s store listing page or from their My apps page on the Play Store app,” Googles policy stated.
Other possible reasons for the ban
Following the Twitter ban, the former presidential candidate, Adamu Garba took the opportunity to tout his Crowwe app as an alternative.
“Join Crowwe now! Build your country, Build your people and Build your Brand. Join Crowwe now.,Mr Garba’s tweet
However, his attempt to seize the opportunity backfired as Nigerians took to criticising the app on several grounds, one of which could have resulted in its removal from the store.
A Twitter user criticized the app of stealing the Terms and Conditions of another app, Spotify. The accusation was made known to the affeected platform and it tweeted that it will look into it.
“Check the Crowwe app’s terms and conditions. It’s the SAME thing as Spotify. They didn’t even bother editing. Like if you click on the hyperlink it redirects you to Spotify theft. What sort of pangolo app is that?”A Twitter user
Also, Dubawa, a fact-checking platform confirmed the accusation to be true.
The other visible reason is the strings of bad review the app received on the Play store app itself.
A reviewer commented that if there was a rating below the one star rating, he would have awarded that to the app, Another reviewer, said “This App represents everything that defines wrong. From the space it takes on the phone, to the design interface and user experience, it makes me wonder if thoughts went into the development of this App.”
That’s not all, several other reviewers complained about pornographic ads on the platform and one particular reviewer called it an app for terrorist recruitment.
In summary
The removal of Garba’s Crowwe app from the Play Store holds a taste of karma for many Nigerian users on Twitter who detested his role and reaction to the banning of the microblogging platform in the country.
However, with no clear reasons as to why the app was removed, there is probability it might return. As at the time of writing the app is still available on the iOS Store.