I have a simple app which can be played by all the age group, but it also use leaderboard service in the game ( But this is not mandatory ), Any one can completely play the game with out login to google sign in. Now here is where i am stuck.
First they reviewed and said
"My Game seems to be good for kids" so add the family policy requirement and i followed and i added all the age groups.
Once i did everything, they rejected saying i am using google sign in and its not allowed if i target the kids.
I cant remove that though, and its not mandatory to sign in, its upto user whether to use it or not. But i am ready to remove from family requirement and to change the target back. But then they reject saying my game is appealing to kids, its icon is animated character. WHAT I NEED TO DO ?
Their review system is broken i believe. What can i do now ?
I'm Jacob from the Android Developer Relations team.
No promises on a different outcome, but we recommend you file an appeal using the link that was provided in your rejection email so we can take another look at this. If you can't find it, you can also find details on how to appeal here:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/7218994?hl=en
Also and very importantly: do you mind sharing your APK name so I can pass it along to the Play team? I'll ask them to keep an eye out for your appeal.
Related
I've uploaded my first Android application to Google Play yesterday, and was really excited for my app to finally be on out there.
But my application got suspended for impersonation. I obviously didn't get any more information about what I infringed specifically, and I'm unsure what I should change in order for the app to be accepted (more likely, resend as a different app name).
Before you could help me you'll need to know some information on the app itself. So I basically made a companion app for a video game. I called the application "Horadrim Companion", and it's supposed help players for playing Diablo 3. Naturally, I'm using elements from this game in the app.
So, my main question is why did I get the impersonation suspension?
I can think of several options, please help me figure out what of those could be the issue:
I didn't write "This app is unofficial" in the description, which I've seen several other apps do. This might be the sole reason, but I'm not enough experienced to make this assumption.
I took the logo out of the game lore. Which in itself should be borderline legit, but I've seen other apps do the same, so I assumed it's fine.
The app name. I dont think I've hit a sweet spot with the name or anything, and I dont think it was any of the factors for the bans.
In-app design? I've seen other apps use design elements from Blizzard Entertainment and\or Diablo 3 design elements themselves. Could this be another possible reason? Sounds more like copy right infringement if anything, and not impersonation.
So I'm not sure which, of the above are critical for the impersonation policy or not.
I'd really like your help, you could make one developer a happy man. I'm really afraid the account will be terminated.
I'd really liked your suggestions!
I had the same problem with suspended app publishing because of impersonation.
I solved this by buying/registering the domain name I used as my app package name. I also added my developer email in the company details section of my keystore while signing the apk for release. After doing this my second attempt at publishing was a success.
It becomes easier if you actually own the domain of the package name you wanna use.
I think basically the algorithm used for verifying the originality of our apps is just too strict. So we have to also play our part and go the extra mile to show that we are legit.
Hope someone can relate to this.
All the best.
Usually you receive an email from
Google Play Support with REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of the spam provisions of the Content Policy. Please refer to the keyword spam policy help article for more information.
Your title and/or description attempts to impersonate or leverage another popular product without permission. Please remove all such references. Do not use irrelevant, misleading, or excessive keywords in apps descriptions, titles, or metadata.
If you received no such notification, you should try submitting an appeal your app removal/suspension from Google Play using the form in the link below:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/contact/appappeals
It is most likely that the reason for suspension is one from the list of options in your post, but usually it is explicitly highlighted by Google in their email under the section 'REASON FOR REMOVAL'
The link below lists more such reasons for removal due to trademark infringement of a third party IP:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/2986098?hl=en&ref_topic=2985713
It is unlikely that your account itself will be terminated, unless you are identified by Google as a repeat offender.
"I took the logo out of the game lore"
It's not your resource so you violate intellectual property
"The app name"
You can't use a trademark word
"I've seen other apps use design elements from Blizzard Entertainment"
Those apps must've been released years ago. Now, the SQA team is really strict about rule.
I mean, if u search "One Piece" or "Naruto" there are a lot of apps that doubtfully has a license.
I launched an app on google play store this week. The app uses Google Play Games Leaderboard and Achievements APIs. Should the app page in play store app not show these icons/badges like it does in other apps that use these APIs? Do i need to enable it anywhere?
These are the icons/badges I'm referring to (image below). How do i add/enable these? Do i need to do anything in the app apk to get these?
Just had a chat with the Google Play support team. They said that it gets enabled automatically after a certain threshold (a few hundred users from what they said) is reached. So basically no additional configuration/setup is required to start showing the icons. I'm just going to wait a few days and see if it pops up. Will update.
I added Google PlayServices at beginning of the year, so its active almost a year.
Currently 330 users are in the leaderboard of my game. But that symbols still not appeared;-(
In general what I can see is that the initial requested acceptance of the PlayServices in my game, is distracting a lot of people. From 10 people who download the game only 3 will register the PlayServices.
Some of the other might even directly deinstall it, not noticing that my game can also used without.
A lot of people dont want it either because of privacy or because they expecting unwanted data traffic.
I'd like to know how to tell the Play Store that my application uses the Play Games APIs for leaderboard, achievement and soon multiplayer games.
I've seen an app where it is visible in the description of the app, as seen in that screenshot :
How can I do the same thing ? Do I have to add something in the manifest ? Change something on the developer console (I haven't seen anything related to that).
Quoting my answer from another question: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17633229/226508
Implementing the Google Play Game Services features is not sufficient,
your users have to use the service for you to get the badges.
Let me quote from this video from Google I/O 2013: Practical Android
Games Development http://youtu.be/ZbQWf7C5ymU?t=23m39s
"As you get more users you will get badges. [...] However, they are
not just given out because you put them in the config, and we don't
snoop your APK to see if you are making API calls from there. We
verify how much the feature is being used and if you meet certain
threshold we give you a badge. So you need to actually integrate it,
it is not a token thing that you can put there to get more eyeballs in
the store."
I'm a developer and i was thrilled when I was watching Google IO 2013 and learned about the new Beta testing feature. So I created a Google+ community and a google group and placed the testers in there (me included).
All we get (the developers and testers) when we visit the https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.package.stuff
is this:
Is there any trick I am missing? I would really like to use this feature.
I know there are alternatives like https://testflightapp.com/ but I'd rather keep my app under this environment where I can "promote" the Beta apk to the Production phase and so on.
I had this same issue. The reason the link is not working is because the app must be published before the link will be active. I repeat the app must be published, this does not mean there must be an APK in production. On the top right of your applications developer console page there is a drop down menu that allows you to publish the app. That link will become active immediately and your app will be available in a few hours to your testers on the Play Store.
First of all you need to create or have a Google+ community.
The process is:
Create a new Google + community. It's required to have testers through Developer Console.
Register this community in Google Play Developer Console
Invite your beta testers to this community.
Wait 8-24 hours before sharing the link
Share the link with your testers
Verify that your app is published for Beta Testing
If everything is right, the link should show something like:
I'm having the same problem, the link simply doesn't work, 36 hours after publishing. Might as well not even provide the alpha/beta features if they cripple the developer's ability to move fast...
Anyway, I'm sharing some information provided to me by Google Support, hoping it'll be helpful:
Ensure that you have added a valid Google Group email or Google+ Community URL to the Developer Console and that you are included in the group/community. Once the group/community has been added, the name of the group will display in the “Manage list of testers” link in the testing tab. (Please note when adding a Google Group you need to enter the email address and not the URL).
If you wish to use a Google Group in a Google Apps domain, the Developer Console and Private Channel must be enabled for your domain in the Google Apps Control Panel. More Private Channel info: http://goo.gl/DLGNe
An app must be published for several hours before the opt-in link will become available to testers.
Currently, testers must have only one account on their device. Devices with more than one account will receive the production version of your app. (Please note this requirement is temporary. Stay tuned for updates).
2015 and the alpha/beta testing is, at best, 50% working. About 50% (23 of our 60+) beta tester never gain access to the app via the provided link. All the others have no trouble at all installing the beta app and receiving updates. No rhyme or reason. Single account on their device, some with gmail accounts, some with private email. It's a mixed bag of who gets access and who doesn't. In all cases, once they accept the invitation to join the group they have full access to the group. But they get a 404 when trying access the app. Not worth the trouble. Our fix is to give the testers access to to our private server and pass out the beta versions that way. Updates aren't automagic, but the testers can get the app hassle free
I had the same problem and alpha testers had to get into my Google Plus Community for alpha testers.
I had the same problem (404 error on tester's link), but the cause was different from the one shown in buckson18's answer: in my case the app was published, but the user didn't join the testers Google Group, although he received the invite.
After the user joined the group, the page showed correctly.
Hope this can help someone...
I was also facing this issue. The problem was that Google group was not added. Another important thing to take care is that the account being used for developer console must be member of google group being added. I couldn't find this anywhere in the documentation.
I have been using Beta testings for a couple of years and its very unreliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Now they have Open Beta Testing. I tried it today for the first time, and though I followed all the instructions, but it still doesn't show the app in the app store, unless I sign in, which makes it regular old style beta testing. Its much easier and hassle free to use HockeyApp to distribute app for testing.
After wasting hours with Goolge's Alpha and Beta versions, I always end up putting my app into production so that I could keep my testers. Its already hard to convince large number of people to do the testing, and then keep asking them to go through half working or not working procedures to download the app.
I solved it by go to https://play.google.com/apps/testing/[app package] on the device and then click that link and open it with google play
One thing that seems to have worked for us is to use the "opt-in URL" the Play Store developer console provides under "App releases" which should look like:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.yourappname.android
This DIFFERS than the URL you see if you're already approved as a tester and visit the app's page on the Play Store in a browser. Ours looks like this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yourappname.android
Net net, use the 1st and not the 2nd. Good luck!
It should be noted also that the link is case sensitive so if you've got https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.someAppName - if you put https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.someappname it'll tell you it's not available!
Simple question, as i can remember there was an option at the developers console in the Play Store to make an app only visible to a set of email addresses. Or at least the app would be free for that set of emails.
So is there an option to make an app only visible to a specific set of email addresses on the Play Store?
I'm asking this because i want to test my app, therefor i have to email it to like 50 people (not a problem). But when i update the app in the "beta" stage i don't want to resend those emails, and ask the test users to update the current install. Using the Play Store updates would be more seamless and automatic.
Does anyone have experience with this situation?
Edit:
It seems that there is at the moment only one simple answer:
No, using Google Play it's not (yet) possible. But there are some alternatives out there, see accepted answer.
It would be great if Google could add this functionality to the developers console, this would allow developers to simply bring out new updates, and easily see crash rapports without having to publish the app in public.
Edit 2:
Now it is possible to Alpha and Beta test your applications! I believe since the 15 of may 2013.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=nl
Google Play now has alpha and beta testing built in:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en
I personally don't remember seeing the option you mentioned, specifying email addresses for private delivery and therefore, I have no experience on that matter. In fact, a quick check in the Developer Console, revealed that the option is no longer available, which I am sure you already know since you posted a question for the same.
That being said, there is a web service I am aware of (never used it personally, but is recommended by quite a few of my developer friends and colleagues).
The website is: The Beta Family. A cursory look at their website so far hasn't mentioned any fees or payments for creating an account or uploading an app for testing.
They also have the email feature you mention in the OP which they call SuperSend where you specify a set of email addresses and the app is delivered to them.
You can get more information about the same here: http://thebetafamily.com/supersend/
It may not be useful if you are looking specifically for a solution with Google Play. But if you open to alternatives, I think this looks promising.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: Their FAQ's mentions that their service is, in fact, free.