I'm trying to understand the Google Play app review process.
When an app is rejected you only get a list of generic vague possible reasons your app can be rejected, but nothing specific to your app, leaving you to guess at the reason and resubmit with random changes.
Anyone know how this process works?
It seems they can reject an app for something that 1000s of apps that were approved have?
Their reason was: "During review, we found that your app, violates our Metadata policy"
https://play.google.com/about/storelisting-promotional/metadata/
Which lists several possible issues, could be an issue with the description text, or the logo, or one of the screen shots.
You are left to guess, and attempt to resubmit. But they warn "repeated violations can result in the suspension of this app or your Google Play Developer account". So if you guess wrong and resubmit your account can potentially be suspended...
It was a pretty tame app, no crazy SEO keywords stuff, or offensive or adult content.
Sorry for asking this question here, anyone know if stack exchange has a better place to ask such questions?
So my solution was to remove all of the app screen shots and resubmit.
It went through, so I assume it was one of the screen shots, even though I used almost the identical screen shot on other apps and they had no issues.
One of the screen shots had a woman in a bathing suite, So I assume this was the cause. Pretty insane that Google does not let woman wear bathing suites anymore.
My guess as to Google's process is,
an artificial intelligent algorithm checks your submission using a heuristic looking for key patterns in the text and images
the algorithm flags you app to be rejected, you get automated email
if you appeal a human reviews your submission
the human can neither fully understand why the algorithm flagged your submission, nor override its decisions, so is pretty much useless to argue with them
you must figure out why the algorithm did not like in your submission, and resubmit
Apps are checked with an algorithm, therefore, some may be lucky to pass through the checking system. Even if google had manual checks, some things are subjective and it is possible that for some people you didn't violate policies.
So, if you can guess what could be a reason, fix it and resubmit. Otherwise, you have to write an appeal and then a human being will check it manually.
One of my apps was rejected twice and only got accepted after 2 appeals. Sometimes you may need to prove that you are not violating their policies.
James, I think you are right.
The clause applicable in the case of the bikini was:
Not allowed if "Imagery or videos with sexually suggestive content. Avoid suggestive imagery containing breasts, buttocks, genitalia, or other fetishized anatomy or content, whether illustrated or real."
It is a shame that they do not let you know the reason for rejection when there are 15 possible categories on their page of reasons:
https://play.google.com/about/storelisting-promotional/metadata/
Related
Does anyone know of a way to speak to someone at Google regarding releasing apps on the Play Store? We've been encountering endless issues with our apps apparently not adhering to their policies, and every time a build is rejected it just comes with a blanket template response for the policies it doesn't adhere to, but with no specific reason as to why.
It's becoming extremely frustrating when we try our best to understand what the non-adhering aspect might be, attempt to resolve it and resubmit, wait another ~48 hours for a review only for it to come back as declined again with the same templated response.
Conversely, our releases go through without a hitch every time on the Apple App Store, and usually only take a couple of hours - from point of submission, to review being completed and approved for release. And on the off-chance there is ever an issue, Apple send us a message explaining specifically how to resolve it, and then provide a platform to liaise with their app review team, who will usually reply to messages within 20 minute window.
Google instead has nothing like this, just an 'appeal form' which, again, takes them over 48 hours to respond to and even then provides no specific information around what we can do to resolve whatever issue they seem to have with our release.
Please tell me we're not alone here? Can anyone offer any advice on how to extract some useful feedback on which specific parts of our apps Google isn't liking without it dragging on for days and weeks on end?
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.
Im asking myself for a long time. Is the word Siri in the Appname of an App in Playstore forbidden or not ? There are some Apps that are called like that example : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=andy.xml , https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.magnifis.parking or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bluetornadosf.smartypants . How is this possible ? I thought its against the rules of the Developer Console of Google am I right ?`Would my app been banned if I use this word ? Thanks for your answers
It looks like the question shouldn't be here but I already typed an answer. You really could have found this answer in minutes, so next time search on Google first.
You cannot publish anything with copyright or trademark infringements if you do your app will be removed if it is reported or discovered. It also leaves you open to being sued by the trademark owner - Apple. Even implying a link to the original item can leave you open to impersonation lawsuits. If your app is removed and Google consider it a serious breach, your account will be terminated entirely.
So the answer is, it could be serious, but it depends how you use it. In any case just looking at your links above and the similar apps section shows there are already dozens of apps of varying quality offering 'siri-like services'. Ask yourself is it even worth risking your account by adding another copycat app to get lost in the results for that keyword unless yours is something truly special?
So I need to detect in app if it was banned by Google no matter why. Just to inform the user about that (and that there will be no updates or whatever). So is there a way to detect the ban?
I'm pretty sure my app doesn't have any violation but like Carl said:
I afraid my app might get banned/suspended occasionally or eventually and Google typically does not warn about that. The reason is that Google is deliberately sudden and vague about enforcing its policies and this can result in innocent devs getting smacked unexpectedly.
And I know that this happens already and I know about such developers, they are usually small independent devs. Also I know that Google's support usually doesn't even answer emails about that fact. Moreover if you gonna try to discuss their decision about suspending your app on market this could result in permanent ban without any further details.
If app has Internet permission it can just bring up the app's listing page on the GP store. If not there - and if you have ability to access similar pages -then you might infer that the app was taken down.
I uploaded my app to PlayMarket a week ago, but it still can be found by name only. My app about cocktails and drinking. I trying to find it with many keywords like "cocktail", "alcohol", "spirit", "drink", but it never been found. All these words are present in the description of the application. PlayMarket founds apps about drinks and cocktails, but not mine one.
When I putting App name in search box - application is displayed in the results. Alone.
What is more - my app don't have any "similar apps", although there are any.
Why it happening? And what can I do to solve this problem?
Excuse me for my bad english and thanks for answers!
Here is some info on how to help optimize your listing for the search engine. I believe the reason why your app does not show when searching for those keywords is because all the other apps have such a higher weight/rank, which subsequently pushes your app further in the search results listing. This is probably the case if you can find your app with those keywords after scrolling through several pages. Also, I believe the "similar apps" is determined, not by keywords, but by users and what other applications they have viewed/downloaded as well as the genre/category of the listing. As far as what you can do, I think the best option would be to market it on your own. With more reviews and downloads, it will rise up in the search ranks.
You are definitely not right, this is easiest answer I got the same answer from google. First of all I'm not sure but I think google can put some kinda app ban, basically you have app in google play market but nobody can find it.
Now let's look deeper, I have experience with this, I got 3 apps terminated and one time account ban falcely, so basically I wake up and I didn't not see any apps by keywords on night I got termination, so google puts automatically some ban and then bands really later.
I had dating app, I got 100 000 downloads 500+ reviews I ranked it and then google terminated it, in my opinion falsely but they saying their story.
So I reuploaded agan my app and started from nothing whit my sistem, after 3 days ago I got to 22 place whit my keywords I whose very happy, so next day I didn't saw my app anivere, so now it is 143 place in socal apps but it is still not ranked by keyword and there is not similar apps in right side just waiting and hoping it will sort out but I thing nothing will sort out because google is not happy when you are not paing to adwords and ranking by some systems, why google's no1 enemy is seo? Because google lose money by it, the same is here.
I'm in the same boat. My app was in the top 5 search results for specific keywords over 2 months. Suddenly my revenue dropped and I didn't know why. One month after this drop I realized that my app isn't listed when searching for these keywords I was listed before. I contacted a google employee and he told me that my store listing or my app content is marked as inappropriate to child under 10. So my app is rated for an age of 12 in my distribution countries. I included some jokes with rude humour and this is why my app must be for an audience older than 12. So now I'm fighting to get my app back to the charts when searching the keywords. I change the short description, the longer description and even the rude jokes in the app. Nothing! I asked the google employee for more information as it is important for me as I must feed some mouths. Only answer that I'm getting is always the same robot like answer: Your app is marked inappropriate... As I'm a developer willing to change everything so my app comes up in the search results again I'm really disapointed by the developer support. I know the AdWords support which is really great but if you are a developer you're lost with yourself.
I can imagine that your app contains some words the crawler does not like and so you are never going to be listed...
It would have been enough when google just sends out a message to those whose app is marked as inappropriate so they can change something but google just is doing this process silently.
If you have any news on your issue please give me an update as I also want to solve this matter.
Perhaps my answer got you in the right direction so you can also "try" to do something even if you don't really know what to do.
Google automatically picks up keyword from your title and app description. However, adding something like Keywords: keyword1, keyword2, keyword3 to your description is considered keyword spamming by Google, especially if you add the title, or the developer name of a competing app. Instead, try to include your keywords in the description in a natural manner.