Google Play regularly revises its policies in response to both new and old problems that can be found among apps in the marketplace. Many of the changes may only impact developers, with some will also having indirect effects that show up for users; but there are a few that many people will benefit from right away.

Full screen ads

Perhaps the most significant and directly relevant change for many people will be a set of stricter rules regarding full screen ads. As of September 30th, apps and games will no longer be allowed to throw up full screen ads at “unexpected” times when they’ll interfere with regular interactions. Examples of this behavior can be pretty egregious, like popping up an ad when an app first loads, during a round of active gameplay, or while scrolling through some content — not like we don’t see that on websites all the time.

Developers may still play full screen ads of any length if users opt-in to watching them, like many games do for unlocking additional content and features, or for earning in-game currency. Full screen ads are also permitted at appropriate times, like after a round has been completed in a game, but they must become skippable within 15 seconds if they’re not explicitly opt-in ads.

It might be disappointing to many people, but this new rule doesn’t apply to ads that are displayed as part of the natural delivery of content, such as video streaming services (e.g. Hulu and Freevee) where ads appear during a show.

Subscriptions

The other policy change that will give many users a direct benefit is targeted at apps with subscriptions. Also taking effect on September 30th, developers will be required to include a directly accessible method for managing or canceling subscriptions. There’s no strict requirement on how this has to work, so it can include an in-app process, sending users to the Subscription Center (if the app uses Google Play Billing), or linking to a website.

Health Misinformation

While it’s bound to draw some criticism, Google is also calling out apps that feature health misinformation. Unfortunately, apps peddling dubious cures and treatments have always been a problem, but the situation reached a head shortly after the pandemic began in 2020. As Google explains with its latest policy update, apps are not permitted on the Play Store if they “contain misleading health claims that contradict existing medical consensus, or cause harm to users.”

It goes on to list examples like misleading claims about vaccines, advocating for harmful or unapproved treatments, or pushing dangerous practices. While this is sure to be controversial, and no doubt lead to controversies in the future, it’s also a necessity to protect users from opportunistic and malicious scams. While it has basically already been enforced for the last couple of years, this rule officially goes into effect under the new wording on August 31st.

Impersonation

Also going live on August 31st, Google is taking aim at Play Store listings that impersonate or otherwise imply connections with well-known brands and organizations. Various forms of impersonation have already been off limits for years, and quietly enforced well before that, but the new text has been updated to cover basically all edge cases and calls out graphics and iconography too.

Apps with special permissions

Many of the new rules fly under the radar because they really only impact implementation details, but they may still have indirect effects that are felt by some users. The first of these is associated with apps that qualify as Accessibility Tools, which are allowed to bypass quite a few system restrictions for the purpose of assisting users with disabilities. While it’s necessary that they have this capability, it can be at odds with many security features. In this instance, Google is citing the FLAG_SECURE mode that many apps use to prevent screenshots and recordings that may capture things like passwords, account data, or copyrighted content. Under the new policy, Accessibility apps are forbidden from transmitting or sharing anything outside a user’s device if it appeared on screen while FLAG_SECURE is supposed to be active.

Two other rules are associated with apps that either rely on the VPNService class or use the brand new USE_EXACT_ALARM permission coming in Android 13. In both instances, the policies largely spell out that the apps must fit within the appropriate categories, and their core purpose much align with the features they will require — i.e. Enabling VPN connections and firing alarms at precise times, respectively.

The new policies for Accessibility Tools and VPN clients aren’t set to go into effect until November 1st, but the policy regarding USE_EXACT_ALARM becomes official on July 31st. Normally that would contradict Google’s commitment to give a 30-day (or longer) grace period on new rules, but documentation for this permission has always included a clear warning that a matching rule would be added eventually.

Stalkerware

Despite the ominous name that refers to monitoring apps, these can be important tools for parenting and keeping track of young children. To that end, the latest policy addition explicitly requires that these apps have clear and thorough disclosures about data privacy in their Play Store listings, and they must also include the new IsMonitoringTool flag in their metadata file so the apps are properly recognized by systems when they’re installed. Apps have until November 1st to meet these requirements.

Families Self-Certified Ads SDK Program

The concern for children goes on well beyond apps used for monitoring, and the majority of the remaining policy updates focus on apps and games that target children in some form or fashion. There are a range of important rules governing how apps may behave, several of them explicitly focus on advertising that appears in front of children. All developers working in this market should take special care to examine the latest policy changes to ensure compliance, and as always, parents should continue to monitor the experiences their children have while using any connected devices. The majority of these new rules go into effect on November 1st, and for developers of SDKs that serve advertising to kids, it may be necessary to resubmit new SDKs and test apps to remain in the program.

If you're a developer, be sure to check out all of the new policies (and their summaries) to stay in Google's good favor.