Extension pending more than 24 hours

[linkedroid Services]

Dear support, my extension is still pending review since yesterday and I'm not able to publish it.

Appreciate your feedback.

Link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/linkedroid-the-linkedin-h/jojafcbgfjjagedlpbpgpnafaedfjclk

[ErikRothoff]

Having the same issue. Let me know if it changes.

[Ampliz Test]

How much time took to approve your extension

[Wessel Kroos]

Hi Ampliz, Reviews seem to take longer since the summer. The update I published 3 days ago took 2 days to be approved.

[Patrick Murphy]

Are reviews still automated?   

When I submit an extension, about 50% fo the time they go from Pending Review (black font) to Pending Review (orange font)

________________

Patrick Murphy

pat...@mgrowthpartners.com

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[Joseph Lust]

@vincent et al,

Increasing concern about review times for us as well. We've been trying to get our most recent Trainer (v2.14.2) past review for 5 days now. We didn't add new permissions or external dependencies since the last release. Given we've had hundreds of releases, this week long wait is of serious concern as we approach year end delivery goals.

All we got back from support was a rather generic response that didn't appear to correspond to changes being shipped. Can you please advise on what's backing up review? Is there a way to restart the review process for a release? 

Cheers,

Joe

 

On Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 6:14:30 PM UTC-4, Patrick Murphy wrote:

Are reviews still automated?   

When I submit an extension, about 50% fo the time they go from Pending Review (black font) to Pending Review (orange font)

________________

Patrick Murphy

pat...@mgrowthpartners.com

On Oct 30, 2019, at 4:55 PM, Wessel Kroos <wezel...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Ampliz, Reviews seem to take longer since the summer. The update I published 3 days ago took 2 days to be approved.

On Friday, 25 October 2019 12:32:46 UTC+2, Ampliz wrote:

How much time took to approve your extension

On Monday, September 9, 2019 at 2:43:44 PM UTC+5:30, linkedroid Services wrote:

Dear support, my extension is still pending review since yesterday and I'm not able to publish it.

Appreciate your feedback.

Link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/linkedroid-the-linkedin-h/jojafcbgfjjagedlpbpgpnafaedfjclk

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[joette cordsen]

I'm experiencing this too. Luckily my change was not a bug fix.Since my extensions are critical to getting our job done (it's not public, the play store listing is for distribution), this standard delay is worrisome - if I had a bug fix, I don't know how long it would take to get it uploaded. It would be so nice if Google would publish a list of the calls/types of code that cause the requirement for a review. if possible I would re-design/re-write my extensions to not use this type of code.  

[Wezelkrozum]

"It would be so nice if Google would publish a list of the calls/types of code that cause the requirement for a review."

Exactly. 3 days ago I only updated the description in the store and left the package untouched. I clicked on the publish button and got put into the manual Pending Review state. To me that seems illogical.

But wait until you hear this. After a 2 days the "new" version with that same package version got Rejected for the reason that "Your product violates the "Use of Permissions" section of the policy". Well the joke is on them because this extension version is already approved 4 days ago and publicly available in the store. 

My conclusion so far is that currently the review process seems like a lottery and when you didn't win you don't know why.

[Chris Zalcman]

It's no wonder, CWS can remove any app/extension and at any time without any real reason. 

Several days ago they just removed our app with 22k users, 5 star rating and about ten years here. 

The app doesn't required any permissions, just the link to the web app, with the following manifest 

and a short description: 

{
   "app": {
      "urls": [
        "http://www.fastsatfinder.com/country-flags/"
      ],
      "launch": {
         "web_url": "http://www.fastsatfinder.com/country-flags/country-flags-geo-location.html"
      }
   },
   "default_locale": "en",
   "description": "Flags of All Countries on the Earth map",
   "icons": {
      "128": "i/128.png",
      "16": "i/16.png",
      "48": "i/32.png",
      "48": "i/48.png"
   },
   "manifest_version": 2,
   "minimum_chrome_version": "54.0",
   "name": "_Country Flags",
   "version": "1.6",
   "web_accessible_resources": ["i/16.png"]
}

But CWS removed this app:

Your Google Chrome item "Country Flags" with ID: keifkkbjefbkgedeolmccljagcmphldp did not comply with our policies.
...
Your item did not comply with the following section of our Program Policies:
"Spam and Placement in the Store"
Spam because it redirects to a site that returns either a 4xx or a 5xx error.
Please make the necessary changes within 7 days in order to avoid removal."

Of course, we have checked the launch URL into manifest - working as expected and there is no any redirections, 

4xx or 5xx errors as mentioned in the app removal notice. We did not see any redirects from our several locations, 

have checked launch url at PageSpeed Insights - no any redirection. Looks like a redirection at the CWS level or 

we have got false removal notification.

We have increased version number and uploaded the new version as required into removal notice. 

After several days we got removal notice again: 

 

Dear Developer,
Your Google Chrome item "Country Flags" with ID: keifkkbjefbkgedeolmccljagcmphldp did not comply with our policies.
...
Your item did not comply with the following section of our Program Policies:
"Spam and Placement in the Store"
Products must not contain false or misleading information, including in the content, title, icon, description, or screenshots.
Descriptions must directly state the functionality of the app so that users can understand the extension they are adding.
Screenshots must demonstrate the functionality of the extension in action. 

As everyone can see, the app not contain false or misleading information, including in the content, title, icon, description, or screenshots.

Icon:

Screenshot:

Title:

Country Flags

Description: 

Flags of All Countries on the Earth map.

After all, CWS did remove our app with 22000 users and without reason, after many years at Chrome Web Store.

We got such removal messages for this app every half of year for no reason whatsoever.

[Andrew]

The link: http://www.fastsatfinder.com/country-flags/country-flags-geo-location.html cannot be found and is not https...........

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[Chris Zalcman]

The link is found, please check your connection or your IP was blocked on the server for security reason. 

Page Speed Insights - the page found: 

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastsatfinder.com%2Fcountry-flags%2Fcountry-flags-geo-location.html

[Chris Zalcman]

From CWS Updated Privacy Policy & Secure Handling Requirements...https required for sensitive user data only. 

There is no policy that app can be removed because of http launch url.

Our app was removed without reason - the fact. And this already happened several times. 

They're just mocking the developers - the fact.

[Andrew]

No the link still doesn't work for me (in Canada, chrome & firefox), I agree that  Page Speed Insights found it OK.

The link is obviously "flakey" works for some but not all, if it doesn't work for the review team then that is why its getting removed.

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[Chris Zalcman]

Also, after several removal notifications, we got the following message from chromewebstore-dev-support

Your item, "Country Flags ," with ID: keifkkbjefbkgedeolmccljagcmphldp, did not comply with our Developer Program Policies and was removed from the Google Chrome Web store.
Your item did not comply with the following section of our policy:

Products must not contain false or misleading information, including in the content, title, icon, description, or screenshots.

Here are some specific checks you can conduct to ensure your item complies with our policies.

Descriptions must directly state the functionality of the app so that users can understand the extension they are adding.
Screenshots must demonstrate the functionality of the extension in action.

This time nothing about redirect 4xx or 5xx. As everyone can see in the post above, the title, description, icon and screenshot is comply.

So for what reason app was removed is unclear and a next resubmit will possible end up with our Google services removal.

From the removal notice above:

This may also result in the suspension of related Google services associated with your Google account..

 

[Gauvin Repuspolo]

Hi Joseph,

My extension has been stuck in drafts for almost a month now. Did your update get through successfully the review process?

Thanks.

GovZ

[Arpit]

@Chris: I got redirected to https://www.mycinema.pro/country-flags/country-flags-geo-location.html - which resulted into 404. I guess, you shouldn't blame CWS team here. You need to fix configuration of your site.

[Chris Zalcman]

@ Arpit, the URL into manifest is: http://www.fastsatfinder.com/country-flags/country-flags-geo-location.html

and working as expected, no any redirection and it never happened before.

Page Speed Insights - page found and no any redirections: 

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastsatfinder.com%2Fcountry-flags%2Fcountry-flags-geo-location.html

Google Search Console - no any redirections detected.

Redirect checker: https://httpstatus.io/ - result 200 ok, redirections: 0

And many other...there is no redirection.

We have no changes at the server, checked several times, all is ok and working as expected.

Why at CWS level there are redirections is a big question!  Our app was removed for no reason, like a "spam", 

Really the CWS team must check at their end what happens and why CWS and some workers was involved 

into such redirections.

[Chris Zalcman]

@Arpit what extensions you have installed. It is possible that some extensions/software redirecting you to a wrong page(s). 

At Page Speed Insights and other services the web page is found on the web server, but at CWS level there is redirection, 

nonsense. For what reason our app was removed from CWS is the question.

[Simeon Vincent]

Chris, please stop hijacking threads to vent about Country Flags review issues.

We exchanged several emails a couple weeks ago about this issue. During that conversation I explained that the rejection was caused by the http://www.fastsatfinder.com domain resolution issue Andrew and Arpit noted above. Until this intermittent issue is resolved, the extension will continue to receive intermittent rejections and, as is the case right now, takedowns.

I would encourage you to consider looking at other DNS providers, checking your routing layer, and otherwise scouring your stack for possible misconfigurations that would cause this type of issue. As a final parting thought, I'll note that in the past I've seen similar intermittent issues caused by one node in a cluster that isn't receiving updates as expected. 

Simeon - @dotproto

Extensions Developer Advocate

[Markus Stefanko]

That redirection issue happens if you use https, not http. Http urls are nowadays clearly marked as "not secure" in Chrome browsers and many people use e.g  "https anywhere" extensions to not accidentally use http urls which are open for MITM attacks.

Chris just fix your https behaviour on the webserver ( see https://www.fastsatfinder.com ). And also make sure you don't block IPs before going into a review.

But I agree, you should open a separate thread for this. This thread is not about specifics of your extension rejection which has clearly identifiable issues.

As for me, I just had an extension update that didn't take longer than 30 minutes. First one in 2 weeks. No manual review stage for a change. So that was refreshing.

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[Arpit]

@Simeon - so the Chrome team is now manually reviewing & approving every extension?? I'm not against manually review, even if it takes time. After all, it will help Chrome extensions eco-system as malicious extensions would be filtered out.

[leo lin]

I also encountered similar problems. More seriously, after I updated a new version I can not search my app in strore!!!

It seems it had been removed and the link responsed 404. But I didn't receive any email about this situation so far.

Anyone can help me to solve it?

Extension ID: pfidjnkafhofaopeoabeeininjdcjfne

在 2019年9月9日星期一 UTC+8下午5:13:44，linkedroid Services写道：

[Chris Zalcman]

Hello,

Dear Simeon,

Yes, we exchanged several emails a couple weeks ago about the removal notification. During that conversation you answered us that filled a bug and that app shouldn't have been removed. But app was removed. After that I sent you several emails and you are just ignored them several weeks, no reply. Now you're showing up here and tell us stop hijacking threads? By the way, now we can't update our extensions also, because of > 24h pending review.

Simeon, your arguments about the redirect sounds unproven, please provide real evidence. I've already brought my proof in earlier messages here. Everything works as it should, there is no redirect and never before and your team removed our app without reason and real explanation. We've tested at many independent online services including Google Page Speed Insights - no redirection. So what else do we can? But you oppose that one or two developers at this group confirmed a redirection. This is ridiculous. About DNS, you're suggesting that GoDaddy's premium DNS is not reliable? I doubt.

All online checkers did not detect any redirect, including by Google. But you wrote here that redirect exist, so our app was takedown, and can't be restored until we remove the mystical redirection at our (your) end? How we can do it? Dear Simeon, can you provide redirection proof? We could not find any redirect at our end and another services responding 200 ok.

We thought you were here to help, but it looks like you've been put up to CWS to destroy the extensions ecosystem completely?. You've been here for six months, and it's only gotten worse to working with CWS and we can't update on time extensions that exist here about ten years. Now your team started just removing them without any proof and real explanations.

At the end, some facts about "nice" working CWS - 

"Half of all Google Chrome extensions have fewer than 16 installs! There are about 188,620 extensions available on the Chrome Web Store, with very few having active installations. According to Extension Monitor, around 87% of all extensions have fewer installs, a number that many extension devs would consider a failure, taking into account that the Chrome browser has over one billion monthly active users!" More at ZDNet: https://www.zdnet.com/article/half-of-all-google-chrome-extensions-have-fewer-than-16-installs/

The CWS team, aren't you ashamed of what you do? You are destroying a small businesses, step by step. 

[Chris Zalcman]

Simeon, you were right about the reason in the node, so my apologies. Just found and fixed the cause of the redirection for some users - domain misconfiguration for IPv6 on the server.

[Nick Garvin]

Can I take us back to the Extension Review/Pending topic?

We fixed a small but critical bug that is affecting 150,000+ K12 Students on Chromebooks, especially when using Google Docs.

Can the Chrome team give us an accurate timeline or update to when we can expect the review to be completed?

Thanks

[Simeon Vincent]

Can the Chrome team give us an accurate timeline or update to when we can expect the review to be completed?

No. The Chrome Web Store does not have SLAs around the publish process. If you share an extension ID I'd be happy to look for anything anomalous, but I should caution that a few days to a few weeks is common.

More generally, though, I understand and empathize with review-related frustrations. One of the many slowly evolving conversations I'm involved in with a few different groups in Chrome is about finding a better way to support businesses that rely heavily on extensions. I don't have any specific updates here, I just wanted to share that we're aware of the concerns in this space and are having a good think about it.

Simeon - @dotproto

Extensions Developer Advocate

[Kent Brewster]

Datapoint: our extension (which is ten days away from its seventh anniversary on the Chrome Web Store, and has over ten million users) just took 30 hours to get a through its latest review.

--Kent

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[Recipe Saver]

Simeon, thank you for that input.

Just to understand the sentiment at Chrome better, how much of a problem/priority are these long review times considered? Having such a slow deployment cycle is seriously negatively impacting so many business and their users and it feels like many of us are needing extensive planning around this for what should (in theory) not be such a concern given Google's typical great product support. Thanks again for providing whatever input you can give.