zlacker

Everybody complaining of this is admitting they are doing nefarious actions. Those of us playing by the rules see no issue with this - In fact I welcome it!

>>dankwi+(OP)
Sorry if I didn't recognize your sarcasm, but if you’re serious, you’re probably also assuming that rooting is usually done for criminal activity. In fact, both rooting and easy app creation/side-loading are often tools to solve inconveniences. I didn't plan to root my last phone until I encountered some restrictions in the manufacturer’s version of Android that couldn’t be resolved without rooting.

Regarding the topic, I can easily imagine a legitimate app on Google Play with available source code, where you find something inconvenient and your attempts to suggest a fix to the developer did not lead to the desired outcome. Currently, you or your developer friend can simply fork such an app, fix the issue, and release it for the general public without any extra paperwork. This Google policy would make such a developer suspicious/disabled by default (if the developer is not already verified), unless proved otherwise.