As an Android app owner, you must have been through some severe turbulence in the past few weeks.
Since Google brought its newest Privacy Policy into force earlier than it had been announced, many developers found their apps at risk of being unpublished from Play Store.
Just like our customers, we at Pushwoosh were caught off guard by these unexpected penalties. We had to take the problem in hand quickly — to help you keep your apps active in Play Store, we’re posting this full explanation of what has happened and a detailed action plan.
New Google Developer Privacy Policy explained
On March 31, 2021, Google posted an announcement concerning Developer Privacy Policy:
“We’re updating the following policies. All new and existing apps will receive a grace period of at least 30 days from March 31, 2021 (unless otherwise stated) to comply with the following changes”.
New regulations enact stricter control over apps’ usage of personal data. Google kindly provides a list of all the introduced changes on this page.
Normally, an app that fails to update its visibility policy packages in the given time would receive a warning from Google. If they don’t succeed to comply with Google requirements even then, the app would be removed from Play Store.
However, in reality, Play Store automatics started to enforce those policies already in April. Some apps were even removed from Play Store without any prior notice — the penalty that app owners had never been warned about.
The Pushwoosh Team was prepared to comply with the upcoming Google policy changes in the officially stated time and get our customers prepared for that. But just like our clients, we were alarmed by the necessity to conform the updated policies ahead of the date. We have removed the experimental code and issued the update to all SDK plugins.
Now let us help you resolve the problem.
How your app may be affected
In the soft scenario, you may receive (or may have already received) a notice from Google claiming that your app doesn’t comply with the updated policies and may be unpublished from Play Store.
In the hard scenario, your app can be removed from Play Store straightway.
How to keep your app published in Play Store
The vital thing to do is to update your Pushwoosh SDK to the latest version (6.2.7 at the moment of publication).
This and further steps are given in this guide.
The Pushwoosh Team has accumulated all the knowledge around Google’s update and written a comprehensive guide for apps to stay active in Play Store.
Click the link to the documentation and follow our instructions without any further delay.
Don’t hesitate to contact our Support team should you have any questions on the issue.
