I inherited a (fairly large) Android app; it's still in beta.
I recently got an email from Google Play:
"Action Required: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies ...
We found your app is using a non-compliant version of Hockey SDK..."
OK. I learned that Microsoft acquired the company a few years ago and, last fall, transitioned the functionality to their (open source) App Center SDK and deprecated the old HockeySDK. Microsoft also published a nice, straightforward Migration Guide.
What the migration DOESN'T explicitly say is whether or not one MUST register on the App Center.
The new App Center SDK requires this:
AppCenter.start(getApplication(),
"{Your App Secret}",
Analytics.class, Crashes.class, Distribute.class);
Q: The "App Secret" is NOT the old Hockey App ID (e.g. "00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff"), correct?
Q: The only way to get an "App Secret" is to register on the App Center, correct?
Q: I'm definitely NOT going to purchase the $50/month subscription to App Center. Is there any downside to just commenting out the old Hockey SDK register (and unregister) calls from the app?
Recently facing the same issue but not because of HockeySDK. We have migrated to AppCenter SDK over a year ago. The issue is because of the "Distribute.class" that exists in both Hockey & AppCenter SDK. You need to remove it for production build.
Please see Microsoft documentation about this here. Hope this help 🙏😅