My application was published on Google play store and suddenly without any updates Google removed it and I don't why , After that i tried many times to follow Google policy all over steps but still app is being rejected.
My app is depend on get location and take access from user and that is what application does , talking permission from user of all application collect of user data like ( location - photo - contacts .. etc ) all of these cases i handled in Data safety in Google Play store consul of app
So i don't know what is problem exactly.
this is my privacy policy : https://shoobekloobek.com/privacy
and that is from Data safety
I tried to follow steps of Google Policy and edit Data Safety also tried modify in app interface to get permission and inform users that app collects data in clearly way (as Google needs) , tried also to upload a video of app recording which declares talking permissions from user and also that users can choose if they agree the privacy policy and conditions or not.
Related
The below error is encountered when an app APK update is pushed to google play developer console. The have rejected the app update because of this. The app does not send out any information and is completely offline.
It uses google location API for getting and storing approximate location (stored only in device and not transmitted anywhere outside)
It uses a send log functionality for any crashes manually. User is given a choice to send an email and the crash log is attached with the email to developer. This is also not automatic and is controlled by user.
No data is sent from the app to external APIs or systems and the app is completely offline.
Can anyone point me in the right direction on what needs to be done so that the google data safety won't trigger this issue?
If you have already submitted Data Safety Form. I suggest to review your Data safety Form & Try updating answers for every cases mentioned in the issue reported by Google Play Policies
If you are passing data to any analytics platform from your app using their APIs.
Select Yes in this section:
If your app is offline & you are collecting any data from User,
Make sure you tick all the details collected by you in app from the User.
For Example: If you are colecting/sharing Name,Age & Email Address of your User. You need to tick mark all the checkboxes shown under Data Safety Form > Data Types > Personal Details Section
Hope it will help you!
i'm having some problem on sending my app to production in play store
See, the first time i tried to send my app to production i received an email 3 days later with this:
After a recent review, we found that your app --- (---) is not
compliant with one or more of our Developer Program Policies. See
below for more information about your app’s status and how to correct
the issue.
Issue with your app
Issues with submitted video
We were unable to view the video you provided in your declaration.
Your video should show the in-app feature’s functionality showing
usage of location in the background, and how a user would trigger the
prominent disclosure, runtime permission (with user consent), and
feature in action.
Please check that your video is accessible, and/or modify your video
to demonstrate the declared feature that requires access to location
in the background, then resubmit your declaration form via the Play
Console. Affected APK(s): APK:7, APK:1
And i noticed this:
Your video should show the in-app feature’s functionality showing
usage of location in the background
Note: i created my app using react native and expo
So i realized that expo, by default, includes a lot of permissions in my app, hence, i decided to create a new build including only the permissions my app really needs. (Removing the background location)
ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
Then uploaded my app to play store and sent it to production on monday and today i received the same email saying my app was rejected by the same reason mentioned above.
After reviewing the email i read this: "Affected APK(s): APK:7, APK:1"
And my current app version is APK: 8 which means that i must edit all these versions
So the thing here is that i don't know how to change the code of the previous versions of my app.
What can i do to solve this? any suggestions
I think your video is not accessible or it is in private mode,
Google says for videos you can save it either you drive or youtube but when you put the video from your google drive you need to make it public other vises it will not able to access and then google will not allow to process it. your video should not have any copyright issues and also make the video that explains everything in a clear manner so that it would not creating any problem.
in my case I also got this type of alert then I follow the steps that google listed and make proper explainer video.
I have an app that reads the call log and count the SMS messages to make statistics as graphic charts, and the app requires SMS permissions and phone call log permission, and when i uploaded it on google play store ,I didn't find the approbate choice from the permissions declaration list , so i send through Google play console why i'm using these permissions and i explained to them how my app works and what it does, and the message to them was this :
"The App uses the permissions selected above to count the numbers or SMS and read phone calls log to show statistics to the user as a graphic charts.The App doesn't read, send, or receive SMS , violate user privacy or backup/store any personal information."
and they replied after days:
"We reviewed your exception request and found that it does not qualify for use of the requested permissions.
Per the Permissions policy, you may only request permissions that are necessary to implement critical current features or services in your application. You may not use permissions that give access to user or device data for undisclosed, unimplemented, or disallowed features or purposes."
any suggestions?
Screenshots:
https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2019/6/6/baa1a74029f0da2564a3f596d525ec33-full.png
https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2019/6/6/4a4b61f5d5470520a0a55eba35a642ac-full.png
You cannot upload your app on Google Play store unless they grant you permission after you explain them why you actually need access to the data.
Google has started removing apps which use SMS or Call Log permission, which they consider dangerous, and will send notice to developers 90 days prior about sending a Permission Declaration form, which if accepted by Google will make your app visible in the Play Store.
They clearly state in their blog post:
Our new policy is designed to ensure that apps asking for these
permissions need full and ongoing access to the sensitive data in
order to accomplish the app's primary use case, and that users will
understand why this data would be required for the app to function.
So, they'll accept your app:
If you remove the permissions mentioned above.
If the permissions are appropriate for the primary use case of the app.
Also, if your app is useless without these permissions, and Google's review team isn't granting you permission to publish on Play Store, you can do nothing about it, except maybe publish your app on different App Stores.
Please Go through
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/01/reminder-smscall-log-policy-changes.html
Google has restricted apps with sms and call log permissions.
Here I have an android application its core functionality is forwarding incoming text messages (SMS) to E-Mail Inbox, there it requires RECEIVE_SMS permission. my app is removed from the play store due to the google play policy violation. SMS_permission is mandatory in my application.
I submitted an appeal to google play, their response is given below
...
I’ve reviewed your appeal request and found that your app still violates Google Play Policy. I’ve included details below about the specific issue with your app and what you can do to get your app back on Google Play.
Issue
During review, we found that your app violates the Permissions policy :
You may only request permissions that are necessary to implement critical features or services currently available in your app. You may not use permissions that give access to user or device data for undisclosed, unimplemented, or disallowed features or purposes. SMS and Call Log Permissions are subject to additional restrictions; in order to use these permissions, you must first receive approval from Google Play.
For example, we found that your app contains :
RECEIVE_SMS
...
please tell how can I republish the application in to playstore with those sms permissions
Yes Google removed apps which have READ_SMS permission.
Try to implement using Google API,
You don't need READ_SMS permission anymore after that.
Have a look at this Google code,
https://developers.google.com/identity/sms-retriever/overview
There are quite a few rules regarding privacy around these permissions and sometimes it's hard to understand, but maybe this will help. First of all:
Google Play restricts the use of high risk or sensitive permissions, including the SMS or Call Log permission groups.
Assuming that your app needs some of these permissions in order to work properly, Google says that it needs to be set as the default phone/sms handler. The app has to be registered as the default handler BEFORE the permission is requested and stop using them once the app is not the default handler anymore.
However, this is not the case for your app. You need access to that information, but your app cannot be set as a handler for sms/calls. In this case, an exception can be made for your app, provided that you satisfy two requirements: you have no other way to achieve the same behaviour (checks for your app) and the use case you implement can be found in the list of excepted use cases (see the Exceptions section from the link above). Here is a little bit tricky because there is no use case that clearly matches your app, but I think that you might be able to use Cross-device synchronization or transfer of SMS or calls (make sure that you check the list in detail and select the one that best fits your app).
Now, the final step is here:
If you believe your app meets the policy requirements for acceptable use or is eligible for an exception, you should declare any Call Log or SMS permissions directly through the Play Console.
Details about the process can be found here and if you did all of these, then your request will be sent to the Google Play team, they will review it and decided if your app will be published or not.
P.S. Make sure that you clearly indicate why your app needs those permissions.
My app has been removed due to violating the Android Advertising ID. So I requested an appeal to get my app into the app store and this is what they respond.
There are three ways to address this issue:
If your app requests user data or makes sensitive permissions
requests such as Phone, Accounts, Contacts, Camera, Microphone, or if your app uses the Android advertising identifier, you'll need
to add a valid privacy policy in two places: your app's store
listing page (instructions below) and within your app.
As a second option, you can remove any requests for user data or
sensitive permissions such as Android Advertising identifier. You
will not need to add a privacy policy if you remove these
requests.
If you cannot complete steps 1 or 2, you'll need to
unpublish the app from Google Play. If your app is already
unpublished, you don’t need to take action unless you re-publish
the app in the future.
I recently just add a valid privacy policy in my app's store listing page and my app was published into the Google Play store again.
However, I don't know how to put it within my app. I have searched all over the place on how to do it and I can't find anyway to do it. They only show me on how to add privacy policy into the app's store listing page which I already did.
I don't want to risk getting removed again.
There are sites that help you write a privacy policy for your app (privacy policy generators), for example:
https://app-privacy-policy-generator.firebaseapp.com/.
The file you get in the end you can upload to a website, if you have one, or even to dropbox (with permission to everyone to read), and add a link in your app to this file. You can also do it with a webview or any other way to present text in the app.