Imagine working hard on something you truly care about, only to watch it disappear overnight. That’s exactly what happened to me.
I created an app called 'Shruthi Box Harmonium' for my own use. When I noticed that the Play Store had only Tanpura apps and no harmonium-based ones, I saw an opportunity to create something bigger—so I built and uploaded my app with more features. To my delight, the app performed well in its initial days.
But within weeks, Google removed it due to a policy issue. Just like that, all my effort seemed wasted. I was convinced that I had made an irreversible mistake. For a week, I did nothing—just sinking into frustration, questioning whether all my hard work had been for nothing.
But as the days passed, a thought kept nagging at me—was this truly the end? I had chosen this field out of passion, but at that time, I had only two months of experience. I had no mentor or expert to guide me, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went through an exhaustive policy document, determined to understand what went wrong. The path felt lonely at times, but it was empowering.
And then, I finally found the answer. The fix wasn’t complicated. It wasn’t even a coding issue. All I had to do was make a small setting adjustment in Play Console. I made the change and resubmitted the app.
To my excitement, Google reinstated it. But here’s the twist—this time, the app gained even more traction. Today, Shruthi Box Harmonium is nearing 10,000 downloads—a milestone I would have never reached if I had given up too soon.
Looking back, I understand that the app was already gaining traction, and before it could scale further, it had to comply with Google’s policies. If I hadn’t addressed the issue, I might have lost the chance to grow. What seemed like a failure was actually a necessary step for success.
Now, with one year of experience in app development, I look back and realize—this was just one of the many lessons that shaped my journey so far. More lessons coming! :)
The App:
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