Andromo App Maker for Android v3.3.0 Released
Andromo App Maker for Android version v3.3.0 has been released.
Millennial Media Interstitial Image Ad
Here is the list of changes in this version:
- Added support for the Millennial Media ad network. Please see Setting Up Millennial Media Ads for more information.
- Added support for hi-resolution app icons (xhdpi and xxhdpi
formats). Upload a new icon (on the App Info tab) that is at least
192×192 in order to take advantage of this new feature. - Migrated AdMob to version 4.0 of Google Mobile Ads.
This is the newest version of AdMob and will keep Andromo developers
current going forwards. No changes are needed to existing apps using
AdMob. - Added a bit of randomness to when an interstitial ad is shown, so
that it does not always display when the first activity is selected. - Made it so Amazon’s app testing service will no longer incorrectly
detect a podcast activity as a ringtone app, causing it to be listed as
incompatible with Kindle devices in the Amazon app store. - Made it so choosing “Set as Ringtone” on a wifi-only device displays
the message “Unable to set ringtone on wifi device” if the device
reports its phone type as PHONE_TYPE_NONE. - Fixed an issue where a playlist would fail to download from the
server based on the user-agent string. Made it so the app will retry
with different user-agent strings if the first was unsuccessful. - Fixed an issue where an audio activity could show an empty list if
the activity was stopped while it was expanding or saving a remote
playlist. - Fixed an issue that was sometimes causing a “No track” popup message
to be shown after rebooting an Android device without headphones
plugged in. (Note: all apps on a device must be updated to prevent the
popup from being shown.) - Fixed a bug where the second line of description text was being cut off on the List Dashboard.
Andromo App Maker for Android v3.3.0 is now live at www.andromo.com.
From the Blog: http://blog.andromo.com/2014/andromo-app-maker-for-android-v3-3-0-released/
Comments
AdMob themselves say that (quote) "Implement interstitials upon your app's launch, and natural breaks in the app experience...".
Maybe this randomness could be an option instead of a feature.
Is there a specific reason you're interested in Leadbolt?
We've evaluated them several times in the past and did not find that they performed very well.
If you don't feel that they are being shown enough anymore you could try decreasing the time between ads. If you notice a drop in revenue please let us know.
@mark Thanks for the good news, I will try out this network it's has a big reputation and Iam sure will make us money. The future looks very bright.
3-8 interactions are OK, when the app is used by a first time visitor, however, returning visitors might just want to check something and leave the app. I have a bunch of apps that people use for references only and don't browse the whole app again, when opening it - interstitials are good as gone in a situation like this.
Also, wallpaper and ringtone apps will hardly get 8 interactions. I have one ringtone app which has only one activity (Audio Player), and trying ringtones doesn't count as an activity, I suppose. Again - interstitials are good as gone and I'm probably not alone with this kind of a situation.
This is all what I see from studying data in Google Analytics.
There is no question in my mind, that earnings will go down. My rough estimate is anywhere from 20 to 40%. For a new user or a hobbyist app publisher, who does this on the side, this change isn't a big thing. But there are many users here, who run their business using Andromo. And for those, this is a really BIG change - it's not an option, but it's an enforced feature.
I'm a bit reluctant to update all my apps on GP, Amazon, and Samsung (eventually all will be updated), just to find out, what I'm already predicting. Testing should be gradual. And now there is no way to test things - this is a new default/enforced mode in which we need to operate.
Things should be viewed in context. Remember GET ACCOUNTS permission? If you're a big publisher, I guess it's OK to have it in - I would trust Google, Facebook, or any other "verified" dev, even if I don't understand, what it means. But if such a request comes from a small indie dev - I would never install such an app (I am not the only one, as it turned out - my apps tanked after that, but you guys were great and fixed that extremely fast). Big feature apps/games naturally have more interactions, than small info apps, which are mostly done with Andromo. So it's normal to expect, that we won't get as many interactions, as the big guys.
If you want the randomness, could you please give it as yes/no (or something similar) option? I never saw this randomness in requests, I don't remember any publisher here on the forum to complain about ads being shown in the first interaction which - again - is even recommended by AdMob, and I never received a complaint about "too much ads".
Please consider all this. Thanks!
Thanks.
I absolutly HATE your the idea, about the new Interstitials settings.
If you feel there is a need for this change, please leave the option to US, either to choose "interstitials upon app's launch" or "interstitials randomness", but don't make it mandatory.
As Hendrixs already said, earnings will go down at least 25% and that is nothing we are looking for!
I also have many reference apps and ppl don't have 3-8 interactions.
Some of my apps only have a single activity that leads to my mobile URLs (and further navigation on the website belongs to the same "activity"). That would only be 1 "interaction" and I would loose interstitial income by 100%.
Please change this back to either the old version or make it optional.
Until then we cannot build or update any of our apps.
And please also look into this problem ASAP!
http://forums.andromo.com/discussion/953/new-andromo-version-problem
As far as the interstitial changes go, I just wanted to point out that the 3-8 interactions are not per-session, but count up and reset during the lifetime of the app.
We hear your feedback and will look into it. If you have an app with one activity perhaps try building it and let us know what you think about the new method.
Also @pixelpower let's say we're learning from the past
As for the interstitials, we are still loosing money, even it would be lifetime.
I haven't had a single complaint about interstitial and I have almost 200.000 impressions every day.
This is a classic case of "if it is not broke don't fix it"
Your users (we the andromo users) are happy, our users are happy.
There is really no need to change anything.
I simply do not even want try updating my apps (even the other fixes are awesome), because I know how much money will go down the drain for nothing.
When an app is free, users expect ads and no one obviously has a problem with the way it is now.
What is about apps with dashboard NONE? Those would show interstitials only if someone opens the app for the 8th time. That means our income divided by 8 ... instead of $100 only $12,5 ...
Thank you but no thanks ;-)
Either way, we understand your point of view from the comments and we'll talk this over, just wanted to add my 2 cents about our thought process.
You guys always proved to be very accessible and have shown care for your customers. Please don't change this. It's not about "us against you." It's about working together for the benefit of both parties. If you are not "forced" into this random showing of interstitials by anyone external (an ad partner or whoever), then I see no reason, why you would not want to give us an option of enabling or disabling the random showing of ads.
Speaking of ad partners - a big welcome to Millenial Media ad network. I would like to give them a try. Also, if you'll be considering any new networks to bring on board (the more the better), please consider Chartboost, AppLovin or StartApp. Anywhere you look, these guys have good reviews, devs have good experiences with them, and are generally popular with Android/iOS community.
Younger population has grown up with ads, they don't mind them as much. My generation (30 somethings) are a bit more ad aware. However, everyone should be able to decide for himself, what he wants to do. AdMob is OK with ads upon app launches and in-between activity ads, but they don't allow exit ads. So why enforce one option, if you have two options available made possible from the publisher itself?
There's a lot of old information and misinformation about ad networks out there. There are many ad networks that performed well in the past before the Google policy changes, but that no longer do. And there are ad networks that performed well by doing nasty things like showing fake virus alerts, and that is something we simply will not permit.
As for the interstitial timing change, we did this in an effort to improve your results, not hurt them. Randomizing the timing for interstitial ads is considered a good practice. It can improve user retention and make the ads more effective by being more difficult to anticipate. For instance, the default timing for interstitial ads recommended by AppBrain is to show one at random once every three days.
We do appreciate your concerns so we are making this behaviour optional, it will be off by default, and we may even reduce the range for the interactions a bit.
Keep in mind, though, that users are much more likely to click on an ad if they like your app. I've
clicked on ads before when I had no actual interest in the ad, just to support the developer...but I wouldn't do that for an app that I felt was pestering me with ads.
Darryl and Mark rebuilt their own apps as soon as this version was released specifically to take advantage of this change, because there's a good chance this will improve their $$ in the long run, not reduce it.
Ad networks: OK, I thanks for the clarifications.
I would test it out and decide which one works the best for your app. And when I say "test it out" I also mean just test it locally. If you think it works well locally then upload it, if not, change the setting and rebuild.
Also the is the possibility that in the future "interactions" can be more than just activity launches, maybe photo clicks, wallpaper-sets, track playing, etc.
Personally I'll be monitoring Google Play initially since it's easy to get install/uninstall data to see if it makes any difference. And of course any changes in AdMob. It's only been a couple days, but I'll get back to you guys with any useful information I gather from the change.
I neither have big fluctuations. Only as Darryl said, it's a matter of what day of the week you are looking at. I usually do about 20% better on Sat/Sun, but that is easy to compare and do the math.
Users are pretty good with updating the app as well. During the past updates I made, over 40% of the users updated the app within the first 3 days.
Means, that I will have reliable numbers in about 8-10 days from now.
I will report the details.