disable download of my paid app in Android

Question

I have a paid app in the store which will remove the ads in another app when it is installed on that device.

Now I want to remove this 'remove ads' app, as I want to have an in-app payement for this for instance (or maybe I just keep the ads version only).

But the problem is, if I unpublish the app, people who bought it will not be able to download it again when they get a new phone or reset their phone.

How to I keep the app in the Play Store, but prevent people from buying it? Is this possible?

My backup plan is: make the app cost 10.000 euro's and put in the message that this app should not be bought anymore. But I don't like that...

Answer 1

If you just unpublish the app, those that have downloaded it will still be able to find it in Google Play -> My apps --> ALL.

For additional info on the remifications of product take down, seee Section 7 of "Developer Distribution Agreement" for detail: http://play.google.com/intl/ALL_us/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html

Edit:

Basically the situation comes down to:

1. Simply unpublishes an app: existing users can still download it, others cannot see it on the market anymore. Google will not be asking you to refund users, your user refund policy can be the same as before the take down.
2. Unpublishes the app and inform Google that your take down is due to copyright or other store policy violation: then Google may ask you to refund users that purchased the app within the year of the take down.

I doubt that your reason is the 2nd one, so there's really nothing to worry about.