r/android_devs

Hello fellow engineers,
Is there a community/channel on Reddit or discord for android engineers helping each other out for interview preparation!?

Peer to peer android interviews.
I am unable to get a valuable (human like) feedback with these AI mock interview platforms.

Would appreciate if someone can point out to a group helping each other. Or if there are enough people who are looking for something similar, we can help each other out.

Hi everyone!

My new app is almost ready for its public launch on Google Play!

To proceed, Google requires 12 beta testers to opt-in and install the app from the Play Store. This is a crucial step for the final release.

Here's how you can help:

1. Click an opt-in link I'll provide.
2. Install the app from Google Play.
3. Keep it installed for at least 14 days and use it a few times.
4. Share any feedback or issues you might find with me.

Your support is incredibly important to get the app out to everyone!

If you're willing to be one of the first 12 testers, please reply or message me directly. I'll send you the link and instructions.

Also, if you have an app that needs testing, I'd be happy to reciprocate and test yours!

Thank you so much!

Recently I had a problem in my app where after changing some options on the Settings screen and then returning to the Home screen I realized it seems that said option has not changed.

Let's assume we have an option for haptic feedback in the app (clicks, scrolls, etc) that can be changed in the Settings.

So of course the problem was that I'm using \`init\` block and Hilt to initialize my VMs.

I'm aware that using \`init\` was frowned upon but I would say what the hell, I don't see any performance or even huge architectural issues with it.

Reading some articles I'm still not convinced why it's a big no no since to me some pros don't justify cons especially when proposed solutions are a bit silly, expiring subscribers after 5 seconds? (\`SharingStarted\` shenanigans) What a sick joke! Why 5? Why not 10 or even a 6 million?

BTW recreating ViewModels after any navigation seems dumb to me, a part of idea behind ViewModels is preserving data across changes.

I consider changes like activity being paused, resumed; a concern of UI rather than ViewModel, a VM should provide ways to refresh data based on UI concerns but not actively monitoring and referencing them so implementing a built-in mechanism for VM to actively refresh data independently is wrong, all I'm saying that they're UI events.

If race conditions are a concern I don't see whether loading data on \`init\` or using cold flows change anything, if any operation is blocking in nature it doesn't matter how you run it as long as you separate UI with your logic, race conditions exists or not should not be any of concern for Composables as long as you have a well defined UI.

Fundamentally I'm against making things complex, I see a simple problem, if the best solution exists is a complex one, I rather stick with that problem because I don't want to create more problems by implementing a half-ass complex solution to minisculely improve the state of affairs.

But enough of me ranting, I accept its harmfulness for now. I was reading those articles but I couldn't wrap my head around how to implement them sanely without overcomplicating everything. I'll provide links.

A simple VM in my app that I intend to change.

https://github.com/yamin8000/freeDictionaryApp/blob/master/feature\\\_about/src/main/kotlin/io/github/yamin8000/owl/feature\\\_about/ui/AboutViewModel.kt

Some articles regarding the issue

https://funkymuse.dev/posts/properly-load-data/

https://pavelkorolev.xyz/blog/2024-09-30-viewmodel-initialization/

Hey r/startups —

I'm an india developer from India and I'm trying to validate an idea before I build it.

The problem I noticed: Google rejected 1.75 million apps in 2025. Most rejections happen because of simple, avoidable mistakes in the store listing — not the code. Things like:

- Privacy policy URL is broken or incomplete

- App description has a "misleading" phrase Google doesn't allow

- Wrong content rating selected

- Permissions list has 2-3 extras that trigger a flag

- Data Safety form doesn't match what the app actually does

Google has a tool called "Checks" but it only scans your APK (the code). Nothing checks your store listing TEXT before submission.

My idea: a simple web tool. You paste your description, title, permissions, and privacy policy URL → it scans everything and gives you a red/amber/green report with exact fixes.

Before I spend 2 months building this I want to ask:

**Is this a real problem or am I overthinking it?**

If you've ever submitted an app to Google Play:

- Did you get rejected? For what reason?

- Would you have used a free pre-checker tool?

- Would you pay $9/month for unlimited checks?

Tell me I'm wrong if you think so. I'd rather hear it now. 🙏

I am developing an Android application using the View/XML approach and need to prevent screenshots and screen recordings. To achieve this, I have enabled FLAG_SECURE using:

window?.addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE)

window?.setFlags(
    WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE,
    WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE
)

This works as expected on most devices, where screenshots and screen recordings are blocked successfully.

However, I have observed different behavior on Google Pixel devices (tested on Pixel 4 and Pixel 9). When a video is played in fullscreen mode using JW Player, users are still able to capture the screen, suggesting that FLAG_SECURE is not being enforced for the fullscreen video view.

Am I missing any additional configuration or implementation step for fullscreen video with JW Player?