Re: Why do people use the Google Play Store search engine?

Andrew <andys@nospam.com> wrote:

VanguardLH wrote on Sun, 1 Dec 2024 23:19:12 -0600 :
 

Of course, you aren't shilling for Skyica's paid app: $1/week, $2/month,
$12/year, $40 perpetual.

 
Thanks for looking. I wasn't aware of any cost. Did I make a mistake?
 
Isn't the link I supplied to the *free* version of Skyica App Finder?
 <https://skyica.com/appfinder/get/>
 <https://skyica.com/appfinder/get/App-Finder-1.4.1a-U.apk>
 Name: App-Finder-1.4.1a-U.apk
 Size: 4497432 bytes (4392 KiB)
 SHA256: 7075AFFE7593C03594DA6A1EB67AA955EBB2EE23FA28198FD49D5821602EC2B9
 
I've been using that link for, oh, about a year now & my phone can't even
be charged money if I wanted it to (as I have no credit card on file).
 
So it's free for me, and I'm not anyone special (although I did help the
developer in testing some of the early versions but not recently).
 

https://skyica.com/appfinder/comparison/

 
Thanks for digging into the comparison.
 
You can compare the free version with the payware version but what I said
was the free version is a far better search engine and filter than the
crummy search engine and filter that you get from the Google Play Store.
 
It's like getting OSMAnd~ for free versus paying Google Play Store for it.
 
Your choice. For what matters, the free version is already a vastly far
better search & filter than you get with the Google Play Store.
 

Some features are "(planned)", so Play Store has those features that
Skyica doesn't.  And visa versa: Skyica has some features that Play
Store doesn't.

 
Thanks for noticing that, but, um, er. OK. So what?
All you care about is what the Skyica free version does. Right?
 

Skyica makes some stupid comparisons.  Reviews in different languages:
Google Play website only, and Link to Google Play website.  And the
difference is what?

 
Thanks for digging deeper into what Skyica does for search & filtering.
 
I think you're speaking about the filters, right? You can turn any of those
filters on - or - guess what - you can turn any of those filters off too.
 
Just turn them off.
 

Skyica still installs the apps through Google's Play Store. 

 
Thanks for making that guess, which is only partly correct, depending on
what you actually mean by the words "Google's Play Store".
 
Did you mean the Google Play Store app <com.android.vending>?
Or did you mean the Google Play Store app repository?
 
They're not the same thing (which probably most people don't know).
Skyica installs through the repository but not necessarily through the app.
 
I'm the one who made sure that it did that - which is mostly where I was
helping the developer - because I don't use the Google Play Store app.
 
The Google Play Store app <com.android.vending> isn't even on my system.
So I couldn't install through that app even if I had wanted to use it.
 
All I care about is Skyica installs through the Google Play Store
repository instead of the Google Play Store app (if you want it to).
 
That's one of teh ways I helped the developer who didn't know there were
billions of people who install apps off the Google Play Store app repo but
who don't even have the Google Play Store app on their Android device.
 
I also helped the developer with his search engine terms, where my job was
to break his search engine (and for weeks on end I broke it).
 
Eventually I couldn't break it anymore.
 

It is just a different way to search.

 
Thanks for hazarding that guess but I have to gently tell you that's wrong.
 
Skyica App Finder gets completely different (much better) results.
Besides, it's not the search that matters - it's the results you get.
 

Personally I already find a search at Play
Store to return way to many results to waste my time.

 
That's the whole point!
 
At least you get it that it's not the search you run that matters; it's the
results that you get out of that search engine. Skyica results are GREAT!
 
If there are ten thousand apps with, oh, say, "APK" in the description, you
can use Skyica filters to get the one app that has APK & "something else".
 

Oh, wonder, Skyica will return even more dross. 

 
Did you try it?
 

Stuff like this is for app junkies:
install anything and everything that comes across their eyeballs.  Oooh,
oooh, something new, something different, gotta have it.

 
Did you try it?
 

About 10 months I read how users can get a free license by spamming
Skyica.  Write about it in social media, and get a license.  Yeah,
that's really impartial reviews and landmined links.

 
I don't spam Skyica and I get a free license simply by installing this:
 <https://skyica.com/appfinder/get/App-Finder-1.4.1a-U.apk>
 
Did you install that app?
What happened when you did?
 
Did it ask you for money?
It doesn't ask me for money.
 
Did anyone else reading this test it other than VanguardLH?
Did the APK above ask you for money?
 
It doesn't ask me for money.
It just works.
 
But my Android system is set up without a Google Account on it.
Maybe that's why?

I did not install the Skyica app.  Don't need it.  Typically I've
already decided what I want before using the Play Store app.

I can't tell if the URL you provided is to the free or paid version.
The web page does not say.  I was referring to the comparison page that
notes there are free and paid version while noting feature differences
between them.  I could not find separate downloads for a free version or
for a paid version.  Perhaps what you download has an in-app purchase to
get the paid version.  Other than the comparison page noting free &
paid, https://skyica.com/appfinder/ says "Some advanced features require
payment".  If you don't need the paid features, you're set as long as
there are no nags, banners, or lockouts on displayed features.

Are there features in the app you got that note they require payment?  I
have some apps where they have an option to hide the Pro/paid features,
but some just show all features with a mention on the payware features.