Tightening rules for Google Play developers. Full ban on push advertising

Google introduces a major update to the developers of the Play Store content, eliminates ads from the notification panel (this time for sure) and more.

The other day, Google released a major update of the program rules for developers of applications for Google Play . It doesn't matter if you are a user or a developer — you should be aware of these changes. The content policy basically boils down to the Google approach “This is something that we do not allow in the Play Store”. Now you understand how important it is to be aware. Google regularly updates this policy, but I think this is a big change that we could only observe. Many areas were touched and changed, with significant consequences.


So let's start with what you are probably reading this material for.

Note: These changes to the Play Store take effect after 30 days for existing applications, namely on September 23, 2013, and immediately for new applications that have been released since that day.
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Google fixes advertising notifications from AirPush and other ad networks (this time for sure)

The company is frustrated by the fact that applications use the notification bar to advertise. And this time she intends to end this once and for all.

"Applications should not display advertisements on the user's device through system-level notifications, unless notifications are an integral feature of an installed application (for example, the airline's application notifies its user users of favorable prices, or the game notifies users of ongoing promotions)"

It turns out that applications can still display stocks or transactions that directly lead back to the application, which displays them if they are an integral feature of this application . The example about airlines clearly illustrates this approach. Disorder when the user makes or buys something within the application that is associated with this application, implicitly and indirectly. No more ads on the notification bar - this is important.

This goes against the old policy, which stated that "advertisements should not resemble system notifications and warnings." Remind is an important word. If something is identified as an advertisement, then the trick was passed (this is exactly how AirPush survived). But not now.

The content policy is now directed to the developer's name and website, and not just iconography / content / advertising / UGC in the app.

At first glance, this is not significant, but it is important. Previously, the content policy did not apply to these two items, each of which could easily be abused by impersonating another developer or company. Now Google can freeze accounts of developers or applications, based on violations of the policy regarding the name of the developer and the site related to him. This is both good and bad. Here are the principles of this policy (the main thing is highlighted in bold):

“Our content policy is aimed at any content that your application displays and refers to, including any advertising that the application displays to users and any user-generated content that it includes or refers to. Further, our policy is aimed at any content from your developer account, which is publicly available on Google Play, including your developer name and the landing page of the website you specified . ”

The nice thing here is that developers who try to speak on behalf of another developer or company, both through his / her name and through the website, can be punished and blocked for their behavior.

The flip side of the medal is the fact that large companies get a hell of a lot of freedom to complain about the fact that they allegedly believe that the name of the developer and his website violate their copyright and trademark. And now they can refer to the policy when drafting a complaint. The new policy is expedient, but in this sense it has a weak point.

Discriminatory language seems to be affecting a slightly wider range of content.

“Discriminatory statements” are aimed at ensuring that in the applications there is no mention of hatred in relation to one of the listed groups / categories. The listed groups are the same as before, but the sentence “we impose a ban on hate speech based on ...” was replaced by “we are banning content that promotes groups of people based on ...” I find this sentence slightly more advanced than the old statement. Here the vague definition of the word "hate" has been eliminated. It’s hard to say how Google will complete this work in terms of interpretation, but this is purely my interpretation of this change.

Applications that act on behalf of other applications / services / developers fall under repression

The following item has been added to the section on this behavior:

"Products must not contain false or misleading information in any type of content, title, avatar, description or screenshots."

Together with the content policy, which now includes the name of the developers and websites, this section of the policy moves in the same direction: if you impersonate someone else, your application will be out of the game, and the account will be blocked. The inclusion of the name, avatar, descriptions and screenshots in the section highlights the underlying principle here. And hopefully, this means that a small disclaimer in the description of the application will no longer be a way for advertising fraudsters to avoid punishment.

Applications cannot post or open your contact lists if they are not publicly available.

This is a small section on personal and confidential information that was updated by entering “non-public contact lists”. They are now forbidden to publish applications without the express permission of the user. It is very advisable.

Drugs are bad, okay?

Google seems to have received many questions regarding the section “Do not do illegal things in your application,” so now there is an example of illegal activities in the section, such as “selling drugs that require a doctor’s prescription without a prescription.” That's the same thing!

Repressive measures aimed at shadow purchases within the application, quasi-gambling and games offering valuable prizes

Google has already banned gambling on the Play Store, but now in its policy, it has advanced an important step forward. “Games that offer money as winnings and other values” are now outlaws, which is bad for large game publishers who want to push through IAP. What interpretation Google will give this policy is a big question, because it’s not quite clear what is meant by “other values”, although I’m sure it is intentional.

What is worth? This is a 5 dollar question. In any case, do not expect that the games from Zynga or Glu will appear on the Play Store in the near future.

What, according to Google, applications can not do with devices? Courtesy of System Interference.

Google has added a whole section called System Interference to describe inappropriate behavior on the part of the application. Some provisions are borrowed from other sections of the old policy, but now they are united into one big and friendly family:

"The application downloaded from Google Play (or its components or derived elements) should not make any changes to the user's device outside the application without the user's knowledge and consent).

The following statement is quite obvious and informative. Do not mess with things if people do not know that you are doing this. Google offers the following item:

“This includes behavior, such as changing the default view of applications, widgets, or device settings. If an application makes such changes with the user's knowledge and consent, then it should be clear to the latter which application made a specific change. The user should be able to easily revert this change, including by removing this application. ”

And again, everything is elementary. Do not make changes that are difficult to reverse, and make sure that someone knows that this is your application - the source of the changes. How Google will clothe it in legal form is not at all clear to me.

"Applications and their advertising should not add shortcuts to the desktop, browser bookmarks or icons on the user's device as a service provided to third parties, or for advertising purposes."

Previously, this provision included the phrase "without the consent of the user" and was located in another section. Now everything is different. It is forbidden to place shortcuts on the desktop, create bookmarks in the browser or icons on the user's device, if they are not directly related to the application period.

"Applications should not display advertisements on the user's device through system-level notifications, unless notifications are an integral feature of the installed application (for example, the airline's application notifies its user users of favorable prices, or the game notifies users of ongoing promotions)"

This we have already discussed at the beginning of the article. This item applies to AirPush.

"Applications should not lead or mislead the user by offering to remove or disable third-party applications, except for the part of the application responsible for the security of the device."

Spam & Play Store Tips

These are minor changes aimed primarily at obstructing the use of the rank or rating of an application in the Play Store. Previously, Google only said that “product descriptions” should not be misleading or overloaded by keywords in an attempt to manipulate search results and ratings. Now it’s more and more specific: “Do not use irrelevant, misleading or redundant keywords in application descriptions, headers or metadata.” It's simple.

The second modified part of this section is also small, but now, according to the policy, it is clearly forbidden to use fraudulent installations to change the characteristics of the application, as well as paid or fake reviews. And of course, you can not encourage users to appreciate the application.

In-app purchases

Updates here are mostly explanations. Obviously, many developers are not aware that the section on purchases within the application requires that payment for additional content, services and functions pass through the Google Play payment system, which also applies to currency and virtual goods within the application. In fact, it is. So if you sell money, virtual swords or shields in your application, all payment transactions with them must go through Google Play. The same applies to additional content, services or features, as before.

They also explained which purchases do not need to be processed by the Google Play payment system: tangible goods or third-party services, digital goods that can be used outside the application (for example, MP3). This policy was before, but now she was given a detailed explanation.

Interstitial ads should now make it clear how to close them without opening them.

While a large number of positions disappeared from the advertising section (mainly because they are covered in detail in the new System Interference section), the company added one important position to it. And this is a victory for users! Inserted advertisements (occupying the whole screen) must now provide “distinguishable and accessible means of closing” so that users can easily close them “without penalty or accidental clicks”. This policy has been applied before, but, like the section on domestic purchases, was not explained in detail. “Distinct and accessible means of closure” is an important part of the situation. Advertisements can no longer hide a cross in themselves, which will have a huge part of clicks, for the reason that the cross is the size of a pinhead.
This is how it is. Several minor innovations remained unlighted. However, the backbone of the provisions of the policy for content developers for the Play Store is still highlighted.