hi4hi - Accepting payments via Google Play

It is two weeks since Google pulled out our app from play store. We have complied with their concerns and released new version which accepts payments via Google Play. You can find it here 

Google Play supports direct carrier billing and credit card payments. 

Making Pizza at home - Ultimate trick

Cook the base for about one minute in the microwave using microwave not convection.

Take it out, apply the sauce, add toppings, add cheese, a bit of olive oil. Do this as fast as you can, not more than 2 minutes. And bake (convection - no more microwave) it for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is done. Goes with saying that you should have pre-heated the microwave before starting.

One minute of microwave is worth 5-7 minutes of baking without loosing the moisture. You can't do it after making the pizza because then you will loose all the crispness and it will become soggy.  Give it another 30 seconds if you like large air bubble in your pizza. Keep it at 1 minute if you like soft bread like texture. Extend it to 2 minutes if you want it to puff up like a balloon. 

hi4hi Matrimony: Google surprise

Yesterday we registered our 1000th customer. And today I got this from Google:

"This is a notification that your application, hi4hi Matrimony, with package ID com.hi4hi.mobile, has been removed from the Google Play Store.

REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of the paid and free provision of the Content Policy and section 3.3 of the Developer Distribution Agreement.

All violations are tracked. Serious or repeated violations of any nature will result in the termination of your developer account, and investigation and possible termination of related Google accounts. If your account is terminated, payments will cease and Google may recover the proceeds of any past sales and/or the cost of any associated fees (such as chargebacks and transaction fees) from you.

If your developer account is still in good standing, you may revise and upload a policy compliant version of your application as a new package name. Before uploading any new applications, please review the Developer Distribution Agreement and Content Policy.

If you feel we have made this determination in error, you can visit the Google Play Help Center article for additional information regarding this removal.

The Google Play Team"

With shaadi.com and jeevansathi.com apps still in the app store, and charging money for membership, I find it completely uncalled for. 

Anyways, we will be putting up the APK on the website so that users can directly download and install the app. We are also working on browser only version of the app so that we don't have to go through app store.  As as bonus, we will be available on all mobile phones that have browser. 

Hang on for a week. 

Rohit Karlupia, 

Founder Hi4Hi Matrimony Services 

hi4hi Matrimony: Introducing Circles

Problem:  hi4hi is not expensive to use. We only charge Rs 2 per invite and Rs 2 per minute for calls. Some of the users take advantage of this and send random invites to users. This wastes time of our users who check the profile and may even talk to these users only to find out that they are not serious at all.

Solution:  We are launching a new feature called circles. You get to choose your own circle. We will have different circles at different prices. User at lower circles will NOT be able to view or invite users at higher circles. Users at higher circles will have the option of viewing/inviting users in lower circles.

Circle approximates your social status and seriousness. It is designed to save you time by avoiding spam and finding people who value your time. You can only upgrade your circle. It is a one way street, so upgrade your circle only when you need to. There are two reasons why you should upgrade your circle. One if you are getting too many invites and it is impractical to even check out so many profiles or talk to so many people. The second reason you would want to upgrade your circle is if your invites are being declined or ignored. You will still be able to send invites to all the people you are currently sending invites to but coming from a higher circle, your invites are less likely to be declined or ignored. It goes without saying that profiles with photos and relevant about me are much more likely to be invited and accepted. 

hi4hi Matrimony - v2 and v3

The number one problem we faced with v1 was that users where not swiping to checkout new profiles. Some of them felt that we show one recommended profile which they could invite or leave. So we added the next and back buttons in addition to swipe so that users at least know that they can browse profiles.

Auto login and notifications had some bugs which were also fixed as part of v2.

v3 has only one change. Explicit user consent to verify their mobile number. Even though we have written all about the app in the google play listing and also in our FAQ's, many of the users were not aware of this fact. Some of them created opposite sex profiles just to check, some used login names which they didn't liked afterwards and some got scared when they saw call going to a number and some surprised when they saw call coming from a number. Hopefully this would ensure that only genuine users install and register with the app which is good for everyone.

I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to the users who trusted us with their phone numbers and are actively using the app and also want to apologize to those who got scared because we didn't communicated how we work clearly and early enough to these users. It is our mistake. We are sorry.  We have rectified it. We would love to see you again.

Rohit Karlupia
Founder Hi4Hi Matrimony Services
Download hi4hi Matrimony App from Google Play