Users reporting virus on apps

[Babuye]

@gigabreakfast '

Thank you. This is good advice. I had also put the disclaimer in English, but this may be a mistake. If I leave it out of the English version then it would just look like random 1-star ratings without comment… I guess this is acceptable?

Also, how did you word this explanation? It’s kind of a touchy subject! Thanks.

Remember on google play, users are shown comments that is relevant to them in terms of language i.e Russian comments are shown to Russian users and so on. So, if English users are not reporting any issues then don’t even inform them about whats happening. Deal with them as they come.
Regarding the wording used, i didn’t want to mince my words. These “Virus” comments were really affecting app downloads so i had to set everything straight although in a moderate way.
Here is the text block i use. It may not be correctly done and maybe contain too much details but most importantly users got my message loud and clear. You may change it to suit your wordings.

ATTENTION!!! Some users are warning others not to download this app claiming that the app contains a “virus”. This is NOT TRUE. These users use Dr. Web Anti-Virus, which reports the app contains adware if the developers have integrated adverts from a company called Leadbolt. This is a known issue between Leadbolt and antivirus company Dr. Web, and there has been discussion to solve this misunderstanding. In addition, other developers are faced with this problem, and we do not know how to approach this issue. The most important thing is that we know that the application does not contain any viruses since other users using different antiviruses such as Kaspersky, Avira, AVG or MacAfee do not get such warnings. Thus, there is no need to cause panic among potential users who want to download the application. This will be unfair and demoralizing to the developers who make such applications for free and continue supporting the application. Thank you all for your support!

@'david

Thanks for that info. Most of my complaints have been from users with Dr. Web as well, so it appears to be the same issue.

Is there any chance you could share the translated explanation? I’d like to try the same approach, but am not confident I could write something like that coherently in a language other than English!

You are welcome David, Luckily, i am now based in Russia so i didn’t have a problem translating it to Russian. Here is the Russian version of the English version provided above

ВНИМАНИЕ!!! Некоторые пользователи попросили других не загружать это приложение, утверждая, что оно содержит “вирус”.Это не ВЕРНО. Эти пользователи используют доктора Веба Анти-Вируса, который сообщает, что приложение содержит рекламу, если разработчики объединили объявления от компании под названием Leadbolt. Это - известная проблема между Leadbolt и антивирусной компанией доктор Веб, и проводилась обсуждение, чтобы решить это недоразумение. Кроме того, другие разработчики сталкиваются с этой проблемой, и мы не знаем, как приблизиться к этой проблеме. Самая важная вещь состоит в том, что мы знаем, что приложение не содержит вирусов, так как другие пользователи, использующие различные антивирусы, такие как Kaspersky, Avira, AVG или Макэфи, не получают такие предупреждения. Таким образом нет необходимости вызвать панику среди потенциальных пользователей, которые хотят загрузить приложение. Это будет несправедливо и деморализует разработчикам, которые подают такие приложения бесплатно и продолжают поддерживать приложения. Спасибо всем за Вашу поддержку.

[gigabreakfast]

Babuye - thank you very much for your advice.

[Smartilities]

I’m having the same issue with Leadbolt, AP and StartApp…

I actually contacted Dr. Web myself to see what they say. Not the friendliest folk…

I think if a lot of developer contact their support, it just might help turn this false detection off. Especially as they are blindly flagging apps using these SDK’s, even if there’s no push/icon ads being used.

On top of that, the opt-in added recently by all these companies should set the record straight.

[gigabreakfast]

@Smartilities

I’m having the same issue with Leadbolt, AP and StartApp…

I actually contacted Dr. Web myself to see what they say. Not the friendliest folk…

I think if a lot of developer contact their support, it just might help turn this false detection off. Especially as they are blindly flagging apps using these SDK’s, even if there’s no push/icon ads being used.

On top of that, the opt-in added recently by all these companies should set the record straight.

In Dr Web you can flag an app as being a false alarm. Don’t know if it will help any, though. What is their incentive to help - their software looks good for catching apps by unknown developers, whether genuinely dangerous or not.

For now I am removing Leadbolt SDK in my apps and will just use their HTML ads instead. Also I’m removing ad networks that I’ve tried, decided not to use, but left the code in just in case I decided to switch later. The less 3rd party stuff, the safer, it seems.