On 6 September 2014 15:40, Derk-Jan Hartman <d.j.hartman+wmf_ml@gmail.com> wrote:

I propose we remove the Wikimedia Commons app from the store.
Clearly there is no time available to work on it, there is no one maintaining it or following up on the problems that have been reported since 2013.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Practically speaking, maintaining this app would mean cannibalising resources currently devoted to the Wikipedia app. Brion and Yuvi are the engineers with the most experience in the Commons app. They're currently split a few different ways (Brion with his duties as an architect, Yuvi with duties to ops) and I'm not eager to split them even further.

Some framing on userbases: The Commons Android app is installed on around 7,000 devices, compared to the 10 million devices with the Wikipedia app installed on it. The Commons app gets around 300 users per month, and there are more edits than that from the Wikipedia app per day to the English Wikipedia alone. The Commons app user base is minuscule compared to the Wikipedia app.

Remember that sunsetting the app and removing it from the store would not uninstall it from the devices it's currently installed on, so those people using it would be able to do so. Also, the code would continue to be available, so if someone wanted to clean it up as a volunteer we could then re-publish it easily enough.

So, in summary, I agree with DJ.

Thoughts, team?

Dan

Dan Garry

Associate Product Manager, Mobile Apps

Wikimedia Foundation