Does the Google Play Store require a user to have a form of payment? [closed]

Question

I am developing a cross-platform app that will eventually be on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. My app is free.

I understand that a user does not have to a credit card (or any payment method) to have an Apple ID and use the App Store and download apps).

I was helping an Android user install our app from the Google Play Store (in beta not in production yet) and it said the user needed a payment method. This particular user does NOT want to associate his credit cards or a debit card with is account. I think we will have more people with this concern.

Research indicates that Goole Play does NOT require a credit card or any payment. If so, then why did it ask this user for a payment method?

Answer 1

The Google Play Store does not require users to have a payment method. In any dialog prompting for this, there is a "Skip" option.