Android app update rejected by Google Play while trying to publish it. What should I do next?

Question

My app update has been rejected and wasn't published due to a policy violation.

The reason is for some security reasons we've blacklisted certain countries and their IPs from our network. Due to that Google Play developer were not able to access the privacy policy URL in the store listing.

Email from google regarding rejection:

Publishing status: Rejected

After review, your app has been rejected and wasn't published due to a policy violation. If you submitted an update, the previous version of your app is still available on Google Play. However, your app may be subject to removal if you do not resolve the issue outlined below by October 1, 2019.

Reasons of violation

Issue: Violation of Families Policy Requirements Apps that contain elements that appeal to children must comply with all Families Policy Requirements. We found the following issue(s) with your app:

Eligibility Issue

Privacy policy

You must provide a link to your app's privacy policy on your app's store listing page. This link must be maintained at all times while the app is available on Google Play, and it must link to a privacy policy that, among other things, accurately describes your app’s data collection and use. Please provide a link to a valid privacy policy in your app's store listing page in the Play Console. For more details, please refer to the Privacy policy section (#6) of the Families Policy Requirements.

What I did

I contacted Google via support email [[email protected]] two days [actually asked on Saturday (21/09/19)] back asking them to kindly share their location where they’re trying to access our privacy policy URL so that we can add it to our white-list.

They provided me the 48 hours time they will respond. But Google is not responding to my emails.

What should I do next?

Thanks.

Answer 1

As of February 2021, the Google Play Console privacy policy link section is moved to another page.

Steps By Steps Guide To Access Privacy Policy Link Section:

1. Go to Google Play Console.
2. On left side bar, select App content under Policy section.

3. On App content page, select Manage under Privacy policy section.

4. On Privacy Policy page, add your app privacy policy url in the input box and click Save button.

5. Done!

Answer 2

Understand the following points:

1. Privacy policy URL should be globally accessible.

2. If you're having security concerns with your URL to make it globally accessible then,

make the Privacy Policy page accessible for all and apply the location-based security to the rest of the website. You can either edit the security privacy for privacy page or use blogger or something similar. Either way, privacy policy URL should be globally accessible. For more, you can contact security experts.

3. If you're excepting Google to respond with their location then you're just wrong. Forget about it.

Answer 3

I had faced a similar situation. My privacy policy URL was broken. So after editing the privacy policy URL from "Policy status" which can be accessible from the left menu section under the "Policy" Section at the bottom of the left menu.

To send to review you have to select "Publishing overview" from the left menu and you can see your changes in the review. And you can send the app for review