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THERESA KHUU: Hi, I'm Theresa, product marketing manager
for Android and Google Play.
Thanks for joining "Google Play PolicyBytes."
Today, I'll walk you through some important policy changes
designed to help keep Google Play a safe and trustworthy
platform where developers can build thriving businesses
and users can enjoy apps with confidence.
We'll start by going over some new policy
updates, recent clarifications, and upcoming key dates.
Let's start with policy updates for Play Console requirements,
device and network abuse, financial services,
and deceptive behaviors.
First up, we have Play Console requirements.
One of the many ways we keep our platform safe
is by verifying developers' identity and payment
information.
This helps us reduce fraud, prevent the spread of malware,
and help users make confident, informed choices about the apps
they download.
Today, we're announcing that we're expanding our developer
verification requirements to help us strengthen our platform
and build user trust.
We'll also be sharing more of these details on your App Store
Listing page.
When you create a new Play Console Developer account
and choose Organization as your account type,
you'll now need to provide a D-U-N-S number.
A D-U-N-S number is a unique, nine-digit identifier assigned
by Dun & Bradstreet, which is a third-party company.
If you don't already have one, you
can request one online for free.
The process can take up to 30 days,
so we recommend starting early.
Because we'll use this number to verify your business
information, it's important to make
sure that Dun & Bradstreet has your organization's most
up-to-date information before you create an account.
And finally, we're launching a new
About the Developer section in your App Store listing
to help users learn more about you.
This will show verified identity information,
like name, address, and contact detail.
Starting August 31, we will roll out these requirements
to new Play Console developer accounts.
Once you create a new account and we verified your details,
you can publish apps on Google Play.
Over the first few months, we'll gather feedback
and refine the experience before expanding
to existing developers.
And in October, we'll share more information
with existing developers about how to update your account.
Learn more about these updates and how to comply at the link
here.
The second device in network abuse update
relates to Android container apps.
These apps create a simulated Android environment
and are valuable to many users, but they may not
have all of the Android security features
users have come to expect.
So to protect users and give developers
control over where their apps appear,
we're launching a new flag that developers
can add to their apps to prevent them from being
run in Android container apps.
Android container apps will be required to check for this flag
and not run apps that have it.
Next, we're adding a new declaration
and updating our financial services policy
to help keep users protected from financial harm and fraud.
All apps must complete this new declaration and state
if their app offers financial features.
You can find the declaration in Play Console later this month
and see a list of features to select,
like banking, buy now, pay later,
cryptocurrency exchanges, insurance, and personal loans.
If your app offers financial features,
you may need to submit supporting documentation.
We're also streamlining the process for personal loan apps
and bringing it into Play Console.
All personal loan apps must now submit their licenses
and documentation in Play Console.
Our second financial services update
is about blockchain-based content, otherwise known
as tokenized digital assets.
We know developers are excited to use blockchain technology
to create engaging and immersive app and game experiences.
Like with any new technology, we have
to balance innovation with our responsibility
to protect users.
So we've been talking to developers
across the industry about how we can support new opportunities
while continuing to provide a safe, transparent, and trusted
experience for everyone.
This update requires that any app that lets users buy, sell,
or earn tokenized digital assets must
declare this in Play Console.
It also requires that apps be transparent with users.
When creating an in-app product in Play Console,
you need to declare that it represents
a tokenized digital asset.
This helps users understand that this type of asset
has unique ownership properties that may come
with additional considerations.
And finally, apps are not permitted
to promote or glamorize any potential earnings from playing
or trading activities to avoid creating
unrealistic expectations for your users.
We're excited to see what new creative and fun
in-app experiences you'll provide Google Play users.
To learn more about how we'll continue
working with developers, check out our blog post at the link
here.
And for more policy details, visit our Policy Center.
Next, let's talk about our deceptive behavior policy.
We already prohibit apps that try to deceive users.
Now we're sharing more transparency guidance
to make sure that users get the experience they expect.
First, your app's functionality must be clear to users.
This means that you can't have hidden, dormant,
or undocumented features.
And second, you can't try to evade app reviews
for your features.
Together, these guidelines will help
users understand what your app does before they download.
Now, I want to share a quick clarification
about our families policy.
To help ensure that apps and our families policy
stay child friendly, our policy requires
that apps that solely target children must not
use SDKs or APIs that have not been
approved for use in primarily child-directed services.
You can review the policy in full at our Policy Center,
where you can find updated details and examples.
Let's also quickly touch on updates about Play Billing
Library.
In May, we launched Play Billing Library 6.0 with improvements
to subscription features, logging, and new API insights.
These updates make it easier for you to manage in-app billing
transactions, add in-app purchases to your apps,
and respond to API usage failures or service connection
issues.
Every new version of Billing Library
also brings foundational improvements
to privacy, security, and user experience.
So to ensure that you and your users
get the full benefit of these improvements,
we support each major billing release for two years.
This means that, in August, we will begin
deprecating Billing Library 4.
Starting August 2, all new apps must use Play Billing Library
version 5.0 or newer.
By November 1, all updates to existing apps
must use Play Billing Library 5.0 or newer.
You may want to upgrade directly to version 6.0
to future-proof your integration for the next two years
and take advantage of the latest tools and features
our Commerce platform has to offer.
Learn more about the update by visiting the link shown here.
Finally, here are some upcoming key deadlines.
For policies that may take developers
more time, we've been mindful to give longer grace periods.
For a full list of recent policy updates,
please visit this link.
We encourage you to review these updates carefully
in case any of them impact your apps.
I hope this helped you better understand our policies.
To learn more, visit Google Play Academy for free courses
on all things Google Play, from understanding
our deceptive behaviors policy to running effective price
experiments for in-app products.
Thanks for watching and for helping us
make Google Play a safe, trustworthy platform
for everyone.
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