Warning of Google Play Developer policy violation: Action Required

[AndyScherzinger]

Got this from Google ! @nelenkov @willlunniss

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Hello Google Play Developer,

Our records show that your app, Andlytics, with package name com.github.andlyticsproject, currently violates our User Data policy regarding Personal and Sensitive Information.

Policy issue: Google Play requires developers to provide a valid privacy policy when the app requests or handles sensitive user or device information. Your app requests sensitive permissions (e.g. camera, microphone, accounts, contacts, or phone) or user data, but does not include a valid privacy policy.

Action required: Include a link to a valid privacy policy on your app's Store Listing page and within your app. You can find more information in our help center.

Alternatively, you may opt-out of this requirement by removing any requests for sensitive permissions or user data.

If you have additional apps in your catalog, please make sure they are compliant with our Prominent Disclosure requirements.

Please resolve this issue by March 15, 2017, or administrative action will be taken to limit the visibility of your app, up to and including removal from the Play Store. Thanks for helping us provide a clear and transparent experience for Google Play users.

Regards,

The Google Play Team

https://play.google.com/about/privacy-security/additional-requirements/
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/113469#privacy
https://play.google.com/about/privacy-security/personal-sensitive/

[nelenkov]

I alsso got this for one of my apps. In the case of Andlytics it seems it's because of the Accounts permissions. We can't really remove the permission without breaking the app, so we either have to put up some priacy policy ('We don't collect any data'?), or remove the app from Google Play.

If you know anyone that can draft a legitimate looking privacy policy, or know of a sample we can modify, that would be great :)

I could really find anything usable (and free!) online.

[AndyScherzinger]

http://www.iubenda.com/en/mobile seems okay and also has a free version to generate such a policy.

On the other hand I just checked the statistics. The app has around 4-5 Downloads a day, so maybe remove it and just publish on f-droid (which has already been done - https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=Andlytics&fdid=com.github.andlyticsproject).

[nelenkov]

I think it's $27 to actually use it, so not really free.

[nelenkov]

We only have one day to do this :) So either pay for Yubenda or unpublish temporary so that at least the developer account doesn't get suspended?

[AndyScherzinger]

Than I'll unpublish for now, the only thing I can do at this moment :/

[AndyScherzinger]

-> An unexpected error occurred. Please try again later. (668269003)

Will have to try to unpublish later again...

[AndyScherzinger]

Unpublish successful

[vkotovv]

@AndyScherzinger does app on F-Droid get updated? It says version 2.5.8 from 2014..

[AndyScherzinger]

AFAIK no new version has been created since then for any store.

[vkotovv]

But what about version 2.7.5 and others here? Was it released on Google Play?

[AlexVPerl]

Can someone please clarify the situation for me. Is the issue solely that there is no Privacy Policy linked on the app store? If so I can write one up, I already a good template I use for my other apps, or I can volunteer to pay $27 for the one mentioned above.

[nelenkov]

All the info is in this thread -- the app was unpublished in order to not get the Google Account banned. If you have a proper privacy policy that can be used for Andlytics, consider if you can contribute it. It needs to be hosted somewhere (maybe Github pages will do?), and linked from within the app. IIRC, iubenda is a subscription service, so that's $27 per year.

[AlexVPerl]

@nelenkov Thanks for clarifying. I do have a Privacy Policy that can be used, it just needs to be modified a bit - I will post shortly. I can also provide web hosting for it. I love the Andlytics app and rely on it daily, very glad to contribute :)

[AlexVPerl]

Just finished writing up the Privacy Policy that we should be able to use. I adjusted it to the permissions the app lists in the manifest, yet kept it quite general to cover wide range of use cases, pretty much anything that might come in handy in the future (ie: ads, monetization, registration, etc.)

I'm currently hosting it on my app's domain name, which probably isn't ideal but will get the job done (URL: http://mytrans.it/misc/andlytics_privacy.htm) - starting a GitHub page for this project will probably be a better fit. Pl. feel free to review and let me know if any edits are needed.

Also, any chance I could be added to the list of contributors to this project? I know this wasn't a code contribution, but I'm a well versed Android & iOS dev and would love to contribute in the future :)

[nelenkov]

Thanks a lot for this! The policy is overly general, and Andlytics doesn't really collect any data (besides error reports), but hopefully no one reads too much into these things...

I've added a link to the app and the dev console. I've also replublished the app, hopefully should show up in a few hours.

No problem to add you as a contributor, but please submit at lest one (non-trivial) pull request first.