RefinedTweets

So I've been working on RefinedTweets for a couple of weeks at this point. And throughout the entire time, I gave little to no thought about publishing it on the Chrome store. Now looking back, I think I didn't even have the confidence that I'll get to the point of publishing it. I was doing it just for fun, just to find out if it was doable.

However, once some people showed a bit of interest in it on Twitter, and all the amazing feedback I got after posting the landing page here on IndieHackers, I knew I had to try my luck. It's actually a weird situation that there's no alternative distribution channel for Chrome Extensions other than publishing on the web store (i.e. without giving away your source code).

The more I looked around, the more scared I got. It seemed that rejection is the default response of the Chrome web store. I read more than a couple of stories of people having to submit their extensions 4-5 times before getting them approved. That is if they are lucky.

So I knew what to expect: to get rejected. This expectation only got solidified going through the submission process. They require you to create a privacy policy page, pay a fee, take your physical address, explain each and every API permission you're using in your code etc. I absolutely think these are very important in terms of protecting users' privacy and they're doing a good job handling it, but it also makes the process seem very strict. Maybe it should be this way.

However, with not a lot of confidence, I submitted my application. I tried to add all the relevant information in the manifest JSON, created all the branding materials they prefer, and gave them all the explanations they wanted. Throughout all the doubts, I did have some light of hope. Cause I knew that the extension is clean and anybody would understand upon a quick look.

And I wasn't wrong, it turned out. After only about 10 hours, I got the email saying RefinedTweets is approved.

I double-checked the email in my blurry vision as I was trying to wake up. Such a great way to start the day - I said to myself.