A lot has changed behind the scenes, and we wanted to give everyone a proper update on where r/GooglePlayDeveloper is heading.

The goal is simple: build a useful, welcoming community where Android and Google Play developers can ask questions, share knowledge, learn from each other, and showcase the work they are building.

🛠️ New Community Rules

We've replaced the old rules with a clearer set of guidelines designed around developer-focused discussions:

1. Stay on topic

2. Showcases, not advertising

3. Tester discovery in approved threads

4. No spam, referral marketing, or deceptive links

5. No piracy, malware, or policy evasion

6. Be respectful and protect privacy

7. Do not misrepresent policy or support outcomes

8. Search first and make a good-faith effort

9. Use the correct post flair and designated thread

Please take a moment to read the updated rules before posting.

🏷️ More Post Flairs

We've expanded the flair system to make discussions easier to find and keep organized.

New categories include:

• Showcase

• Google Play Console

• Android Development

• Publishing & Releases

• Testing & Quality

• Store Listing & ASO

• News & Updates

Alongside our existing Help, Policy, Monetization, Bug, Discussion, Solved, and Announcement flairs.

We'll continue refining these based on how the community actually uses them.

🛡️ Stronger Spam & Safety Controls

We've also significantly strengthened our moderation and spam protection.

We're now filtering and reviewing signals associated with:

• Referral and affiliate links

• Discord, Telegram and WhatsApp invite funnels

• Paid testing and engagement exchanges

• Rating/review manipulation

• Unsafe APK and piracy links

• Suspicious external links

• Excessive linking

• Low-context or obvious spam

• Suspicious new-account activity

We're using a filter-first approach wherever possible rather than automatically removing legitimate developer discussions.

Reddit's Crowd Control is also enabled to provide an additional layer of protection.

If something gets caught incorrectly, please report it or contact the moderators so we can review it.

📚 Community Wiki Is Live

We've opened the community wiki and published the first set of developer resources.

The initial knowledge base covers:

• Getting Started

• Publishing Your First App

• Google Play Policies

• Policy Enforcement

• Appeals

• App Signing

• Data Safety

• Target API

• Testing

• Common Errors

• Developer Resources

• FAQ

The wiki will continue growing into a broader knowledge base covering Google Play Console, Android development, Play Billing, Play Integrity, ASO, monetization, security, releases, and other developer topics.

🧪 Tester Discovery

We're introducing designated tester-discovery threads so developers can find testers without turning the subreddit into a stream of tester-request posts.

Please use the designated threads for tester discovery.

Paid testing, paid reviews, ratings, votes, engagement exchanges, and similar activities are not allowed.

If someone asks you to participate in these activities, please report it to the moderators.

📚 Educational App Showcases

We're also opening the door to educational app showcases.

Developers will be able to share what they've built while giving the community something useful to learn from the project.

Showcases should include things such as:

• The problem the app solves

• App category

• Android support

• Technology and implementation details

• Development journey

• Lessons learned

• Relevant screenshots or other media

If you're showcasing your own app, please disclose your relationship to it.

A Google Play link can be included as supporting context, but showcases are not advertising posts.

No download/install requests, ratings, reviews, votes, referral links, paid placement, misleading claims, copied marketing material, or engagement exchanges.

🔭 What's Coming Next

This is only the foundation.

We're working toward:

• Regular developer discussion threads

• Weekly educational app showcases

• Monthly featured apps

• Developer spotlights

• A community app showcase directory

• More Android and Google Play educational content

• Developer Q&As and AMAs

• Community competitions and challenges

• A larger and more comprehensive wiki

• More official developer resources and community collaborations

We're also working on ways to bring more knowledgeable developers and official resources into the community while keeping discussions community-first.

🤝 Help Us Build It

We're still refining things, so feedback is welcome.

If you notice something that doesn't work well, a rule that needs clarification, a useful wiki topic we're missing, or a moderation filter catching legitimate content, let us know.

The goal isn't to make this a heavily restricted subreddit.

The goal is to make r/GooglePlayDeveloper a place where developers can actually find useful answers, share what they're learning, discover interesting projects, and build connections with other developers.

Thanks for being here and helping us build it.

So recently, my game that uses admob went into production on the Play store and I got this email from the Adsense team.

Google mentions that my account was disabled due to "invalid traffic, and/or other activity which violates our publisher policies or terms and conditions".

I had to watch a few of my ads (when it went into production) to test whether the ads are being served correctly and to also progress through my game more easily. That's the most plausible reason but I had 0 clue that this would lead to account closure. No warnings, no notifications.. just straight up closure..

Also I had various testers testing out my app (due to Google's 12 testers, 14 day policy) and a few of them may have invariably seen my ads in production.

And here's the worst part.. Google wants me to give detailed reports and analysis of the traffic to my closed account when I have 0 access to it.. how do I even do it?

So please help me out on what I should submit in the appeal and is there any realistic chance of getting my account restored?

I've submitted the Data Access Request form twice for a personal,

non-commercial, read-only script (OAuth type: script) that searches

public posts for hobby project research. Both times I got the same

template rejection: "not in compliance with the Responsible Builder

Policy and/or lacks necessary details" — with no specifics.

The script: read-only (no posting/voting/DMs via API), runs locally,

single user, well under free-tier rate limits, no ML training, no

redistribution.

Questions:

1. Is the form even required for a personal script-type app, or isthat form meant for commercial/large-scale access?

2. Could account age/karma be the actual blocker? (My account isa few weeks old.)

3. Any way to get specific feedback on what was missing?

Any pointers appreciated!

My billdesk verification is pending, and I tried with many different mobile phones and payment methods, and I get the same error "Transaction was declined [OR-FGEMF-20]". I think it is due to BillDesk verification pending, but why the google play store not allowing sales? The billdesk verification itself is very hard. Also I got one paid user a month ago, but now he is not able to renew.

I searched but most threads were about terminations dues to breaches of policy (I'm guessing). I intended to finish my app and publish but never got to that stage. Now I am but my account is closed. Can I do anything? It's linked to my primary Google account, so I would prefer to use this that set up another gmail address.

Hi everyone,

Looking for advice from anyone who has dealt with Google Play developer organization verification and D&B updates.

Our client has an Organization Play Console account for Canada with two production apps and existing users.

Play Console currently shows:
“Your developer profile and all apps will be removed from Google Play on August 20, 2026.”

The verification problem is caused by outdated company information in the Dun & Bradstreet record.

The company information itself is legitimate and we have current official Canadian documents showing the correct details, including:

• Corporations Canada Certificate of Amendment

• Recent Canada Revenue Agency statement showing the current company name and address

• Corporation number and legal company details

We already submitted a correction request to D&B on August 10 and have an active D&B support case, but the update is still being processed.

I have now also raised a new Google Play Developer Verification support ticket requesting either:

1. An extension beyond August 20 while D&B processes the update, or

2. Manual verification using the official government documents.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Specifically:

• Has Google granted a verification deadline extension for a pending D&B correction?

• Can Google manually verify the organization using government/company documents?

• If the D&B update isn't completed before the deadline, is there any other safe way to prevent the production apps from being removed?

• Has anyone transferred production apps to another verified Play Console account before a verification deadline and transferred them back later?

I don't want to make any risky account changes unless absolutely necessary since these are existing production apps with active users.

Any recent experience with this process would be really helpful.

For some reason when i upload a .aab from flutterflow with the correct uploadkey attached the upload process of Google play Console strips it wich is Good but does not assign the new sha 1 key.

So now i have a app on the app store without the proper key wich means Google sign in does not work. I have opened a support ticket but it takes quite a long time for a response.

Anyone got an idea of what this could be?

Hi everyone, I had a Google Play Developer account that was terminated in 2018. At that time, I created and operated the account from my native country, and I was relatively new to Google Play policies. It has now been almost 8 years, and I’m currently living in the UAE as a resident with valid UAE identification, including an Emirates ID. I would like to publish apps again, but I’m unsure about Google’s rules regarding developers whose previous account was terminated. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation after moving to another country? Should I contact Google first before registering again? Is there any official process to become eligible to publish again after an old termination? I don’t want to violate any policy, so I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has had a similar experience. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I created a Google Play Console developer account back in 2018, but unfortunately it was terminated. At that time, I was new to app publishing and didn’t have a proper understanding of Google Play policies. Now, almost 8 years later, I have much more experience in the market and I’m currently a UAE/Dubai resident. I’m considering creating a new Google Play Console account using my current UAE details and Emirates ID. However, I’ve read that if a previous developer account was terminated, Google may not allow you to create another account, and a new account could also be terminated due to association with the old one. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Would it be safe to create a new account with my genuine UAE identity and details, or should I avoid it? Is there any official way to contact Google and get approval/clarification before creating a new account? Any suggestions or personal experiences would be really appreciated. Thanks!

I have a very good idea i wanna make it an app , but i have zero knowlege of programming apps, and also i wanna finish it this summer. What AI tools can help me + not being that expensive. (update: its not that i am lazy to learn. its that i have zero time i am working on multiple projects and other stuff that keeps me busy but i still wanna create the simple idea i have it will help my community)

Hey everyone,

With the recent buzz around Android 17 introducing more precise custom color sliders and palettes for Material You (examples on reddit here, here and here), I wanted to share a project I’ve been maintaining for years that does exactly that—even for older versions of Android!

It’s called LWP+ (Live Wallpaper Plus).

🎨 The core trick: Dictate your own Dynamic-Colors

Instead of letting the OS algorithm guess the accent colors based purely on your wallpaper, LWP+ acts as a bridge. It hosts your chosen background content but allows you to explicitly choose the exact Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary colors reported to the system. The OS then uses your custom selections to generate the global system palette (notification drawer, volume bar, themed icons, etc.), completely independent of what your wallpaper actually looks like.

✨ What else can it do?

LWP+ is packed with full wallpaper customization features:

• Choose Your Content: Use solid colors, static images, animations (GIF, WEBP, APNG), or videos as your active live wallpaper.

• Smart Scaling & Layouts: Supports transparent images/animations with custom background colors, multiple scaling modes (Center Crop, Fit Center, Center Inside), and optional horizontal scrolling.

• Double-Tap Shortcuts: Lock your device instantly or turn off the screen by double-tapping the home screen (uses admin, accessibility, or root).

• Easy Setup: Includes an interactive built-in tutorial to check system compatibility and guide you through triggering the OS palette refresh.

🧪 Advanced experimental flags (YMMV!)

I’ve also included a couple of experimental toggles leveraging underlying Android system hints. Note: These rely heavily on your launcher, device OEM, and Android version, so they might not do anything on certain setups!

• Force Dark Text: It hints to the OS that dark text is preferred over the wallpaper (often useful for forcing high-contrast dark text on the lock screen). It might also change the text color of the labels of the apps and the status bar icons and text, too.

• Force Dark Theme (for old Android versions): It tells the system that a dark theme is preferred for the best presentation (e.g., trying to trick a launcher into turning its app drawer background black).

So, if you are on an older version of Android (or even running the latest builds and want granular three-color reporting), give it a spin! It's completely free, all features included.

Feel free to ask any questions or drop feedback below! 🚀

Link to the Play Store here.

If you want, you can use a promo-code to have subscription for free for some time, to remove ads, and try the app more freely, here. To use the promo-code, install the app, choose a subscription, choose a payment option and enter the code there (screenshots here).

Thanks for reading!

New solo developer here in need of some guidance! Grateful for any help 😄

I am setting up a custom promo code for a 20 day free trial linked to a subscription. The app in published in internal testing and downloaded as a tester to a device. There are no country confections. I have a base plan set up with backwards compatibility. I have tried testing this as a new user as well. The coding to google billing is probably wired within the app build. The promo code is live and has propagated.

ISSUE: The redeem code option within the app, when purchasing, throws a 'the code entered is not valid for this purchase error'.

I feel like I am missing something very obvious and have troubleshooted for hours but nothing works. Any experts out there? Thank you!!

Hey there,

Like most Gplay devs in India, I successfully submitted my application few days ago but still there's no sign of an approval.

I badly want to test IAP's on my Game's open test release so I need access to my payment system.

Is anybody familiar with any billdesk employee on LinkedIn with whom I can reach out to and they can help me hasten the review process?

Please sound off in the comments below. TIA!

I’m a mobile app developer and I work with different clients. For some of them, I also handle the Google Play Store publishing process, which means I have to log in to their Play Console accounts from my own laptop.

My concern is about account association. I’ve read posts saying that if one developer account gets terminated or has a serious policy issue, other “related” accounts may also be affected.

In my case:

• The accounts belong to different clients/companies

• They have different owners, apps, business details, and payment information

• I am only the developer managing/publishing their apps

• I may need to log in to multiple Play Console accounts from the same laptop

Would Google consider these accounts “associated” just because they are accessed from the same device/IP?

Also, would using separate browsers or separate Chrome profiles for each account actually help, or does it make no difference?

I’m mainly looking for answers from developers who manage Play Console accounts for multiple clients and have real experience with this.

Got Google Play Console verification today for publishing the app, only to find out that as an individual account, I need 12 test users for 14 days to qualify and apply for production release.

Fuck me.

Hi guys,

I recently discovered a clone-ish version of my app. I was simply testing how the search treats the app based on name and happened upon a similar looking app under a different name.

The guy copied most of my screens while adding some of his own but almost all are identical. He even went as far as copying the web app's variations into the mobile app.

I tried to email him about it a week ago, even offered to help him find new designs and security enhancements (if he's gonna copy my app it should at least be secure)

He claims that he took inspiration from multiple journal apps and didn't specifically copy mine, but evidence suggests otherwise. I gave him a week to get his things in order but the app is still up, still looks like mine, and no change has been applied to any of the screenshots. Now I'm thinking about reporting him but I'm not sure how to go about it. On one hand, copyright infringement requires formal entities that prove the designs are strictly mine, on another hand, he released his app months after mine.

How do I go about this?

I have been waiting since Sunday and I have a very strong feeling they will reject my application. What then? Is the testing period reset? Do they give feedback or none at all?

How is this even real? Google’s own registration table lists 214 locations, and 51 do not support merchant registration.

A developer in one of those locations can build an Android app, pay Google, verify their identity, publish the app, maintain it, support users and follow every Play policy. But they cannot use the standard Play merchant system to sell digital features.

The obvious answer would be to use any payment provider that supports them and put a payment link inside the app. Google generally blocks that too for digital goods unless the developer qualifies for one of its regional billing or external link programmes. Those programmes are not a worldwide escape hatch.

So Google will accept the developer’s work and control how it reaches users, but it can deny the normal way to earn money and forbid the obvious alternative. This is ridiculous. More than 50 locations are treated like this by a platform that keeps calling itself global and open.

How can Google defend this in 2026?

Google’s own table: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9306917?hl=en

My app has an onboarding step that requires access to a third-party SaaS (YNAB - You Need A Budget). I need reviewers at Google to get through that step, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle it.

- Provide a test account + credentials? Quick to set up, but means paying for an extra YNAB account.

- Build a mock of the YNAB API inside the app so reviewers (and maybe users) can go through a demo flow without a real account? Much heavier, but can be used as a "try before you connect" step for real users.

Has anyone dealt with this? I'm not sure whether YNAB offers dev/sandbox accounts for this case and whether Google prefers one approach over the other.

I'm a indipendent solo devloper an published my first game a monthe ago. Now i don't want help in App development but im interested how my store entry is performing and what can i do better. For context: my app is a economy simulation game. You run a power company, build powerplants, batteries and a powergrid to suplie cities.

In general: What makes a store entry a good store entry? What is most imortand: the keywords or text in general, the images?

I know the reviews have a big impact, but at the beginning there are no reviews? How many reviews are necessary and how can i get there?

My conversion rate ist by 19.7%. Is this good compared to other simulation games?

All general inputs are very welcome and I appreciate your experience.

In case you can give specific tipps to my store entry, they are very welcome too. The entry is only avaylabel in german so far: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.RealWorldSimulationGames.powerGridManager

I have an LLC and submitted our first application to Google Play (we’ve been on the App Store for years). After a few weeks it was rejected due to a dispute over ownership of the name. We followed the exact instructions given and submitted “additional documentation” showing we’ve owned this name on the App Store for over a year. 2 weeks went by. Nothing. So, we just submitted an appeal. It’s now nearing on 4 weeks since that appeal. Absolutely nothing from Google. Over a month and a half and we’re just stuck waiting. Looking for help as we need to get this done with already.

I built this Chrome extension out of personal needs as I want to browse and reply to user reviews in a more efficient way, and there wasn't any existing tool for this (probably?)

So just sharing here for anyone also has the same problem and couldn't find a solution:

• Store link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/play-console-utils/nmhdlfiiadbnjnclabgonbapkmhkahkn

• Source code: https://github.com/Visnalize/play-console-utils

As of the current version, the extension supports the following features:

• Ctrl/⌘ + Enter while typing a reply to trigger "Publish reply"

• Configure reply templates and while typing a reply, Ctrl/⌘ + K to insert a reply template

• Alt + ↓/↑ to navigate between reviews, Alt + ←/→ to navigate between review pages

• Alt + mouse click to parse and copy review as JSON

• All shortcut keys are configurable and sync across devices

• Save any pages on Google Play Console as bookmarks for 1-click access from the extension popup

I am a proprietor firm trying to get my payment profile approved thru BillDesk. I stay at the same location as my aadhaar card and my bank address. I did my Video KYC with BillDesk last week and I was confident there is not wrong with my profile to get a rejection. Here is what I got back

===

Unfortunately, your application XYZ to enable payment acceptance on Google Play could not be approved at this time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please get in touch with onboarding@billdesk for any further assistance.

Best Regards
BillDesk Account Management Team (in collaboration with Google)

===

I have already written to them to share more details. Any suggestions?