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The Connect IQ Store is getting worse by the day by a few developers who dump a shitload of *** watch faces

Gerard
over 1 year ago

Dear Garmin,

Please do something about the Connect IQ store because its a big mess.

It irritates me very very much that every day I only see the same watch faces that already have been there for years and a *** load of new stupid watch faces uploaded by developers like Porthos, Simon433, SpecialFaces, etc.

Good new watch faces never have a fair chance to make it or being noticed because they will be only visible in the store for maybe a week or two and than disappear behind all the *** being dumped.

Why should I maintain my watch faces, put effort in solving issues, spend time to develop new rich features when they never will be notice?

I started because I could not find a watch face that fit my needs and over time developed a few watch faces to improve the one I use myself (GerardV) and let others also enjoy that. But that is about to stop because for quite some time I maintained them and even developed new ones but that appears to be a total waste of time! Almost nobody will see or use it. Therefore I will only develop for my own watch and never publish again. Good luck with all your old stuff and *** load being dumped every day.

With kind regards your former Garmin developer GerardV.

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  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to dbrobert
    dbrobert said:
    This is almost what I suspect is happening. It would not be too hard for someone with a basic level of scripting experience (be it Perl or Python or Ruby or something similar) to create a CLI that reads in the parameters (for background image, placement of various complications, supported devices, etc), generates the source code (from templates) and compiles the whole thing to an .IQ file for uploading as a new project.

    It's already available

    https://garmin.watchfacebuilder.com/

    https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/showcase/272205/garmin-watch-face-app-online-builder?pifragment-1298=1#1315748

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to dbrobert

    I thought Garmin was on the right track by expanding their SDK and Connect IQ changes but it's sad to see good and honest developers disappearing from the Garmin community.

    My last free watch face (GENIX-4) from a month ago has more than 2k downloads, a 5-star rating with almost 30 reviews, maintained it to solve issues and customer requests, but is already completely out of sight in the store and when I see what kind of *** is now visible I see no future here especially if there are tools available to manufacture even more of this poor kind of ***.

    Garmin must take urgent measures to prevent this, otherwise not only developers will disappear. It is sad to see how this community dies...

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    I'm an developer on the store and I believe the store updates the apps itself, not from developers. My watchface got update sometimes even-though I didn't upload the new version (I think this is an option when upload the app, so Garmin can recompile the app with new SDK or with support to new compatible devices, not sure how they manage to do that thought).

    But again, I believe the store is now flush with many garbage watchfaces/apps. Some filter as free/payment watch could be also helps in this case.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Shinatesu
    Shinatesu said:
    I think this is an option when upload the app

    yes, you can turn it off in the app details (Auto migration)

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    hi, what I've noticed also is when you do an update (for adding functionnality or correcting bugs), the application immediately disappears from the rankings, and if you don't have shorly many reviews, you won't go back to the Ranking as before the update.

    But maybe I am wrong and it is a coincidence.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Shent-Aurkhan (SHN)

    Our apps disappear because they are overrun by all the spam and it does not matter how often you update and maintain your app, if you dont have more than 100k download or reviews you are not visible and never will. With this discussion I hope to wake up Garmin and do something about this. 

    If you are a honest developer in this community please raise your voice to Gamin that they need to do something about this! 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Gerard

    not only.

    and this is not the first thread about that,

    on the other side, there had many dev who did not understand that users did not like their app anymore and said it was Garmin ranking fault, but some day we also have to admit that our app don't suit anymore, that is the game.

    So my point is that it would be hard to find a good way to do for Garmin to get a "perfect" ranking system.

    The better idea IMHO is to ban more than new upload a day, but can Garmin do the difference between new app and update?

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Shent-Aurkhan (SHN)

    When a new device is added, it's not uncommon for me to update 10 apps in a day, where I add the target, do a test, export and upload..  I don't think that should be blocked.

    There have been cases where I upload an app to the store and find out right away I induced a bug, so I fix it and upload again the same day.  Should that be blocked?

    Should Beta apps ever be involved in blocking? 

    Let's say I have a few different data field that are basically the same, but allows for two different ones to be used in the same activity, or two different ones to be used in a different activity. (let's say 4 that are basically the same, but they all need the same fix).  Should that be blocked?

    In the case of a new apps, should adding the 4 versions of basically the same DF on the same day be blocked?

    That's why doing blocking is a bit more complicated than it might appear as there could be valid reasons why the block shouldn't be there.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

    Updating apps isn't the issue here, its adding more then one new apps almost every day. 

    Lets say that I create every day one or two new apps, how unique will they be and what will they contribute to the Store? How would I manage to maintain all of these apps when new devices arrive, new SDK available, bugs being detected?

    In your case Jim they probably be very unique but an average developer can never develop and deliver a new quality app that adds something new and useful that isn't already in the Store every day again and again. What they are doing now is spamming the Store.

    It looks to me that you don't see the problem here Jim or you must be blind

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Gerard

    Not blind, but realistic.  I've been doing CIQ for 8+ years and the same complaint comes up often.

     Let's say that all the apps you consider spam vanished over night.

    When you go to a category in the store, you see what, maybe 200 apps at most between the front page and clicking on "More"

    And most are there due to the number of downloads and reviews. (100k downloads isn't that unique)

    I know you want your apps to be visible, but what's the solution you propose? (even if all the "spam" apps vanished)  

    Show the first 2000 apps instead of the first 200? And I'm sure there are more than 2000 watch faces, so some will still be left out, and no one is going to page through 2000 apps to see yours  

    Should the ratings be ignored so your app shows in the first 200 and get's it's "time in the sun", where something that earned it's place be hidden?