Sharing google play experience

Hi All,

I had uploaded one prank app for internet boost and play store is already flooded with such apps. The user would click on the boost button and the app will show some animation of “doing this… doing that…” and done.

I had some sentences of description taken from other internet booster apps from play store only. The last line mentioned that the app is a prank app. Now that my app is suspended, I am sharing some observations:

  1. The app was getting 3K+ downloads daily
  2. When it was getting lesser downloads, no suspension happened
  3. As soon as the app crossed 150K downloads mark and moved to top 50 apps in communication category, suspension happened
  4. Suspension happened in U.S. morning hours which gives me impression that the app was flagged by algorithm for high downloads/ranking in particular category and then someone from google play store looked at the app, found it was prank app and hit the suspend button. All my app suspensions till now have happened in U.S. morning working hours only which gives a feel that employees coming to work in morning, look at the queue flagged by algorithm, download and analyze the app and then hit the suspend button.
  5. The message received for suspension is:

REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of the Impersonation or Deceptive Behavior provision of the Content Policy.
Products must not contain false or misleading information in any content, title, icon, description, or screenshots. Don’t pretend to be someone else, and don’t represent that your app is authorized by or produced by another company or organization if that is not the case.

I am sure there was nothing related to title, icon and screenshots. It is description (copied sentences from other apps) and prank app.

Do let your views come in…

Did you make it from scratch? Or was this bought?

I had someone with familiar problems but it was because he had bought a code that was only permitted one licence. (Launch 1 time.) He launched it 2 times. And thus they suspended the second app only.

I made this app from scratch.

Well, it seems weird to me ! I guess Google has started being more and more strict now a days, I guess last week I was writing an article over on “Google changed the Play store’s rules for Android developers” I guess you might be hit by that only !! I think you need to have a much more closer look what Google is planning out. hmmm…

Well, it seems weird to me ! I guess Google has started being more and more strict now a days, I guess last week I was writing an article over on “Google changed the Play store’s rules for Android developers” I guess you might be hit by that only !! I think you need to have a much more closer look what Google is planning out. hmmm…

interesting… one of my app got suspended just after it reached 200k downloads. the reason was sexual content. The content was jokes or catch line with 0 image or even erotic pictures. 100% text. I rated it as mature content on the store. But it got banned. Then you watch game of thrones with so much explicit sex and nudity and Hollywood promotes it in the entire world… Ahhh, american morale, it will always be a joke. But that’s another topic! :slight_smile:
I also think google guys have automatic detection of apps based on algorithm, and then there is a manual action to strike.
But I also have the suspicion a jealous developper could be reporting competitors app. Do you think that might be possible ?

No.a single person reporting your app won’t harm. I have reported so many apps which use icon ads but still they are alive. DMCA complaints from one person can do harm.

@javaexp I too got similar reason when one of my app got suspended.It was a live tv app and was 116th position on Top free section with 50k+ download.There were similar app and its still live with more than 1 million download.I got around 2k downloads per day.And the day they suspended my account too got terminated.Still searching for a way to create account.

@ThemeBowlApp: Thhat sucks. :frowning: 1 app ban and they already terminated your account?

No i had two app ban already.All mysterious indeed.I got 26 app suspension because of Mobario.I lost my major earnings.And this last app was about to recover my loss ie i made $20-$35 per day which was enough for me.But now :frowning: great $0

Also one of my app which got suspended was on top 5 position in Trending apps too.

Sorry to hear that, I really hope you get to open a new account with them, either on your family member or on a friend.

None of my family members have credit card.Also I don’t know trick to evade Google if successful.I registered my account on 2012 with a debit card which is not possible now on Google play.

Hm, search the forums a bit, there are some topics on how to register a new GP account. It’s definitely worth to be on GP. I wish you luck.

@javaexp do you think they are tracking clone copies of app?Since you made it from scratch but similar function to other app.I believe if they are doing so then they must clear 90% of store’s content.

No they are not tracking cloned copies as of now. The day they do so, the number of apps on GP will get halved of current number.

@javaex, did they ban your GP account? or just one app?

you must also find out that was it reason of max downloads/ranking or max revenue from ur banned App.

i suspect that max revenue is the input for their algorithm to suspend the app. you can distribute the banners/full screen across different network in that case.

just the app got suspended and not account.

the app had admob banners and startapp inters. May be yes admob gives some input to play team.
But usually revenue increases with downloads. So even if I didn’t add admob, still their algorithm will flag the app for increased downloads.

In my case, it’s the download numbers. Three different apps of mine suspended after they reach 100k barrier.