Accessibility Service, Stay of Execution

[Pent]

[new topic for clarity]

Hi folks,

I had previously written that Google were requesting that Tasker completely stop using accessibility services
within 30 days.

I had asked them if they were really sure about that and if a longer notice period would be possible. They waited
until today, 3 days before the cutoff, to give me an answer, which is that they are still thinking about it
but have halted the countdown.

From the tone of the letter, I think this applies to all the apps using accessibility.

If it hadn't been for an unexpected hitch, I would've published the updated versions (1.6u3, 4.9u5, 5.1)
yesterday and had a user-support apocalypse, so I'm finding it difficult not to feel grateful about
the email despite all the annoyance about the wasted time and being kept dangling.

Pent

[Pent]

So I intend to publish a new version soonish with the app usage stats/accessibility option
for app context checking.

For app creationists I've added an option to Set Tasker Pref to set the method
dynamically.

@Alexander Graetz: I've started logging the reason accessibility service is included in the kid.
Search the log of the new version for 'na:' after generating a kid.

Pent

[Raul SC]

Hello, as on other occasions, by not speaking English, I have not understood this message well.

It seems that Google, has given an extension to the developers, to not have to eliminate the accessibility service, is it correct?

In case Google finally authorizes Tasker to use the accessibility service, the context of "application" will continue to be used as of version 5.0, I suppose.

Would there be any possibility of maintaining, the context of "application" as in this beta version? So that in case you want to develop an application, you do not have to depend on the accessibility service.

Sorry if it's already explained, but as I said, I do not understand the translation well. A greeting.

[Alexander Graetz]

Thanks Pent! I've removed all notification clicked profiles and my apps don't include accessibility service anymore. Instead I try to hint the user, that he should expand the notifications to reveal the action buttons. But I think it's a only so-so workaround. I still hope you'll make it possible to use this event in the future again because I think it's a core function for app development.

But I understand this isn't a priority. I too have a rough week finishing my apps before the deadline.

[mdediego]

Good news! Seems like someone is using his head at Google. Hopefully this whole situation will improve what the accessibility options are all about.

[Pent]

It seems that Google, has given an extension to the developers, to not have to eliminate the accessibility service, is it correct?

For Tasker yes, I don't know about other developers.

In case Google finally authorizes Tasker to use the accessibility service, the context of "application" will continue to be used as of version 5.0, I suppose.

You will have the choice of 'accessibility service' or 'app usage stats' for app contexts.

 

Would there be any possibility of maintaining, the context of "application" as in this beta version? So that in case you want to develop an application, you do not have to depend on the accessibility service.

You can use Set Tasker Pref to decide which method to use in a child app.

Pent

[hollywoodfrodo]

According to the guys and gals over at AndroidPolice Google is rethinking this whole situation.  Hopefully, in the end they realize they need apps that use accessibility (responsibly) to help differentiate Android from iOS.  Here's the article on AndroidPolice that includes the letter Google sent to all devs: http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/12/07/google-pauses-accessibility-app-ban-considers-responsible-innovative-uses-accessibility-services/

[Mantas Adom]

will it be possible to get %WIN without an accessibly service?

[Pent]

On Friday, 8 December 2017 00:25:52 UTC+1, Mantas Adom wrote:

will it be possible to get %WIN without an accessibly service?. 

No, but it's looking promising that accessibility can be retained in the future, perhaps

with some caveats.

Pent

[Mantas Adom]

ok, the only thing I need it for is to know if statusbar has been pulled down.

[Scott Almond]

Same here, %WIN is such a useful feature especially for the notification shade trigger

[Jeremy Kane]

Pent - I got the initial email from Google to tell me to remove Accessibility Services, but (apparently because I wasn't smart enough to wait until the 27th or 28th day of the 30 day deadline), I never got the email about "hang on, we're rethinking this". I assume you did get that email, yes? Can you tell me if there was a way to contact them if I have questions about my use of Accessibility services in my app? My update to remove them doesn't work very well, so I'd really rather go back to using them, if possible, but I don't want to risk it without confirming it's ok with them first.

Thanks!

J

[Cengiz]

In the link provided, Google states that:

"If you believe your app uses the Accessibility API for a responsible, innovative purpose that isn’t related to accessibility, please respond to this email and tell us more about how your app benefits users.  This kind of feedback may be helpful to us as we complete our evaluation of accessibility services."

So, google expects developers to describe their uses of that feature to prevent complete stop of this function. I think, this may be very confusing (or simple depends on your knowledge about tasker type apps) for tasker since it has so much different uses and is completely customized. Real benefit is actually giving the users a flexibility/opportunity of using this feature to their own/unique needs.  

By the way, I have lots of profiles and I wonder which profiles use this specific service, is there a way to see this info?

8 Aralık 2017 Cuma 14:43:17 UTC+3 tarihinde Pent yazdı:

[Jeremy Kane]

I know it says to reply to the email, but I didn't get that email, so I was hoping Pent could post the email address that the reply would go to...

[Pent]

I sent a support request from the Play Store developer console, they'll probably
just reject a direct email.

Pent

[Alexander Graetz]

I'd like to bump this. It's still not resolved, at least not for me. Been waiting for 6 months now and now that Joao is on fire fixing stuff, I am hoping again.
"On Saturday, 11 November 2017 15:42:31 UTC+1, Alexander Graetz wrote:
> Except you can't argue with Google. Don't like it? How about you unpublish your app. We already arranged it for you. And even better, you can't upload anything ever again.
>
> In my apps I use the notification click event to do stuff when my own notifications are tapped. Tasker requests accessibility service anyway. Would be great if you could make it optional."

Could accessibility service permission request be optional for the notification clicked event? I don't need it because in my kid apps I am interacting with my own notifications. Tasker adds accessibility service permission in the manifest if I use the notification clicked event and there is nothing I can do about it.

Thx!

[João Dias]

Can you add that request here so I can give it proper priority? https://tasker.helprace.com/ Thanks!

[Alexander Graetz]

Will do. Thanks

[João Dias]

Thank you :)

On Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 6:49 PM, 'Alexander Graetz' via Tasker <tas...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Will do. Thanks

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tasker" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tasker+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/tasker.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.