In fact, Google takes into consideration the public interest with the services it provides, making every effort to prevent users from being deceived or misled on digital platforms and to prevent any loss of rights that may occur on these platforms. Therefore, Google publishes certain policies for the services it offers, and it expects developers on the Play Store to comply with these policies. In this context, when your Google Play Store Console account is closed or your application is removed from the store, one of the reasons listed below, which are Google policies, will be cited:

1. Google Play Developer Agreement
2. Earning Policy and Subscriptions via Google Play Store Console Account
3. Providing Restricted Services and Content Policy on Google
4. Google Play Store Developer Intellectual Property Principles
5. Information gathering, misleading, virus, and privacy policy of your application published on Google Play Store
6. Compliance with Family Policy framework for the audience and age-appropriate content presentation to users
7. Intellectual Property Policy that Google follows for intellectual property violations, including Creative Commons
8. Additionally, Google expects developers to follow its Privacy and Personal Data Protection Policy and Google Service Terms.

The Google Play Store Developer Policies outlined above create a framework, providing flexibility for Google to make decisions. Due to the more restricted and specific nature of the Turkish legal system, it may sometimes be challenging to discern which Google policy has been violated.

As you may be aware, when Google removes your application or closes your developer account, it will not explicitly state the violation you committed or the reason for the removal within the application. To avoid your application being removed or your Google Play Store developer account being closed, you need to pay attention to the following points:

1. When opening a Developer account on Google Play Store Console, it is recommended to use Wi-Fi, computer, credit card, email address, and phone number exclusively for this account (excluding daily expenses and life expenditures).
2. The devices (computer, tablet, or phone) used by the Developer/Development team should not be used in areas prohibited by Google’s Content Policies, such as Child Pornography, Illegal Gambling Applications, Weapons Trading, Human Trafficking. If the developer is used in such areas, even if the owner of the application is you, Google Policies will be violated, and if a connection is detected between the person violating the policies and you, your application will be included, leading to the closure of your Developer account.
3. It is important to pay attention to the past software types your team members have dealt with and whether any Developer accounts have been closed.
4. Google closes Developer accounts without imposing restrictions on a per-account basis; it directly blocks the user. This situation results in lifetime restrictions.
5. Those who have access to your Developer account should be carefully selected or not used by anyone outside of you.
6. If you have purchased copyrights from providers regarding Intellectual Property, you need to report these copyright files to Google and specify them as third-party providers within the application.
7. Google is strict about its subscription policies, even in its own application, such as YouTube. There are certain standards declared by Google under Subscription policies.
8. In case of offering subscription after a free version to the user, the duration of the free period should be clearly stated, and the Campaign Terms should be presented in the user’s native language for them to read. The user should be informed one day before the end of the free period via email, stating how much the fee will be after the free period, informing that it will be converted to a paid membership, and allowing subscribers to easily cancel their subscriptions.
9. Google may impose sanctions in case of policy violations in this regard. However, it is explicitly stated that Subscription Terms must be written and presented in the user’s native language.
10. If the application can be used without payment, this situation should not be hidden from the user.
11. If packages such as Luck Cards are to be sold to the customer, it should be clearly stated that all kinds of equipment can be obtained from the packages.
12. Regarding Google AdMob ads, Google sends a Warning Email if violations are detected in your application or Developer account. These emails often end up in Spam or Junk folders, so it is recommended to take the email address “admob-noreply@google.com,” which Google uses to send you emails, seriously.
13. Google sometimes imposes restrictions on application names and, as an example, does not allow the use of the word “Covid” in an application name. Therefore, when choosing a name, it is advisable to be a bit more careful.
14. If someone will have access or control rights to your Console Account, it is more secure to grant authorization via corporate email addresses.
15. Also, do not say that my Developer Account will not be closed due to small errors. Google can close an account directly due to minor errors. For example, if Google or one of its companies feels that the name of the application could be understood as a Developer or Contributor of Google in a certain way, it can close the Account or Application. (For example, if your application helps to listen to music on Android devices, it is recommended to choose the name of the application as “Music Player for Android” rather than “Android Music Player”).
16. Additionally, it is recommended to regularly and carefully monitor notifications from the Developer Console Account and emails sent to the email address.
17. In case of copying code structures used in the application from another application (purchasing ready-made code), there may be restrictions on copyright. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the Purchase Conditions in purchased templates. Third-party providers may require the source of the copyright you purchased to be specified.

If you have any further questions or need assistance on any specific point, feel free to ask!

Actually, the answer to this question is quite similar to the points mentioned in the first heading of our article. The Google Play Store team must have closed your Developer Account due to one of the titles mentioned above. Therefore, it is essential to focus on identifying the source of the error. When detecting the violation here, you need to be a bit more careful and make sure that there is no violation in the Beta versions of your application, which may not be live but is installed in your Play Store account.

In an incident we experienced, the Google Play Store team sent a copyright infringement notification four years after the developer uploaded a Beta version to their Play Store account. Furthermore, this infringement does not exist in the version of the application that is live. However, Google explicitly does not state, “You made a mistake in the Beta version of this application.” Because it did not say that, the application’s live version, which has been published and reached nearly 1 million downloads, was removed from the store for 9 months due to an error in the Beta version. After 9 months, when the error in the Beta version was noticed, the application was put back on the store.

After receiving the warning or account closure email from the Google Play Store team, your first priority should be to identify where the violation occurred and try to fix it.

If your account is closed and blocked by Google, you need to send an email to Google, explaining that the action taken is a mistake and convince them.

If these methods do not work, and you are wondering, “What else can I do?” then you need to continue your developer life with a different approach. Use a mail account that your close ones have been using for 2 or 3 years, along with a credit card from a third person, on a different Wi-Fi, with a computer or phone you have never used before, and a different application.

If you want to re-publish the application that caused Google to block you, you need to change the code structure of the application and make it more unique compared to its initial version. It might be easier to start a new project.

If you have any further questions or need assistance on any specific point, feel free to ask!

If one day you receive one of the emails below, you will find yourself asking the question ‘What can I do if my account is terminated by the Google Play Store team and my service agreement is terminated?’

‘Google Play Publisher account has been terminated This is a notification that your Google Play Publisher account has been terminated. REASON FOR TERMINATION: Prior violations of the Developer Program Policies and Developer Distribution Agreement by this or associated accounts as outlined in previous emails sent to the registered email address(es) of the Publisher account(s). Google Play Publisher suspensions are associated with developers and may span multiple account registrations and related Google services. You can visit the Developer Policy Center to better understand how we enforce Developer Program Policies. If you’ve reviewed the policy and feel this termination may have been in error, please reach out to our policy support team. Do not attempt to register a new developer account. We will not be restoring your account at this time. The Google Play Team’

‘This is a notification that your Google Play Publisher account has been terminated. REASON FOR TERMINATION: Multiple violations of the Content Policy and Developer Distribution Agreement as outlined in previous emails sent to the registered email address of your Publisher account. Please note that Google Play Publisher terminations are associated with developers and may span multiple account registrations and related Google services. If you feel we have made an error, you can visit the Google Play Help Center article for additional information regarding this termination. Please do not attempt to register a new developer account. We will not be restoring your account at this time. The Google Play Team’

If you receive emails like these, understand that your account has been terminated by Google. No developer wants to face this dreaded situation when providing services through Google or Apple. If you don’t have the chance to go from here to Silicon Valley or Ireland, you may have the chance to convince Google’s bots and communicate with a real person after overcoming the bots.

In this regard, if you believe that Google has no valid reasons to close your account, you need to send an explanatory email. The email communication process is generally used by Google every two weeks, and they usually respond within an average of two weeks.

Therefore, it’s essential not to be in the mindset of solving it within 1 or 2 days, preventing frustration, and losing hope. In one example, 57 emails were sent during the email communication process, and a meaningful and logical response from Google could not be obtained. The 57-email process took 9 months, and the game was not released within 9 months.

If your application has been removed from the Google Play Store, we recommend suppressing your anger towards Google and investigating where the error in the application may come from.

Minor errors in the application, although not considered important from your perspective, are closely monitored by Google. When detected, the application is immediately removed from the store. As an example, if an application included in the Play Store account, but only published for testing 4 years ago, has been removed from the store for a while. There was an unauthorized copyright design in the Beta version. However, this design was never used in the version that was last published and did not receive any downloads. However, due to a copyright infringement in the Beta version from 4 years ago, even though the application was not in the store and was not used, the application was suspended for a long time in the version that was published. The application was put back into operation until this error in the Beta version was noticed and fixed.

Although Google does not directly tell you the content of the violation, it conceptually expresses it as the title. Therefore, as soon as Google informs you of the policy title you violated, you need to start working on it immediately.

In addition, in foreign sources, the application of a company listed in the Fortune 500 has also been removed by Google and could not be re-stored for 3 months. In this case, there is nothing else to do but to email Google and try to resolve the issue.