Google is taking inappropriate ads and malicious apps more seriously in new Play Store terms
Google rolled out a brand new material design facelift for its Developer Program Policy Center today. The redesign is aimed at making the guidelines easier for developers to find and understand. All of the policies are now organized into seven categories. Each category has a colorful icon and a drop-down menu to reveal the included topics. More important than the redesign are a few updated rules and policy enforcements.
The Play Store once felt like the “wild west,” and while there’s still a lot of junk to be found, Google has cleaned it up a lot. Last year, Google started reviewing apps before allowing them in the Play Store. This was a big step in cleaning up the store, but there is still work to be done.
One of the big changes is an update to the ads policy. Inappropriate ads, like those annoying ones that get in the way of using an app, are now banned. They’ve also added some restrictions on apps that bypass system power management features a.k.a. shady apps that claim to improve battery life. Google has also clarified the User Data Policy to include more strict requirements on apps that collect contacts and phone numbers from users.
Hopefully, these new policies will further clean up the Play Store and the apps on your phone. You can read them all in Google’s redesigned Developer Program Policy Center.