Policy announcement: October 30, 2024

You’ll have at least 30 days from October 30, 2024 to update your app to comply with the policy changes below. For more details, go to the Policy Deadlines page.

Updated policy

• We’re increasing the scope of the Medical functionalities policy and updating the policy language to incorporate the latest medical guidance and disclaimer requirements for health and medical apps. We’re also consolidating health-related policies under the Health Content and Services page.

Additionally, we’ve added clarifications to some of our existing policies. Because these changes aren’t new or updated, our enforcement standards and practices remain the same.

• We’re updating the Enforcement Process page to provide more clarity regarding how the use of third-party code (e.g., an SDK) in your app may impact policy compliance.
• To improve developer understanding and better protect user and device data, we are updating the “Protecting User Data and Privacy” section of the Mobile Unwanted Software Policy with new language to direct developers to the most useful relevant policies.
• We're updating the Health Connect policy to enable regulated medical devices to access and utilize Health Connect data, provided they comply with all applicable regulations and obtain explicit user consent to use the data for their regulatory approved purposes.

• Social and dating apps now have until January 22, 2025, to comply with the new Child safety standards policy, which requires self-certification on Play Console before publishing. Declarations will be made available in Console in December. Check out Tech Coalition’s best practices for Combating Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) here.

• Last October, we introduced the Photo and Video Permissions policy to reduce the number of apps permitted to request broad photo/video permissions (READ_MEDIA_IMAGES and READ_MEDIA_VIDEO). To give developers more time to adopt these changes, we are extending the deadlines. Starting January 22, 2025, apps may only access photos and videos for purposes directly related to app functionality. Apps that need additional time may request extensions until May 28, 2025. Apps that have a one-time or infrequent need to access these files are requested to use a system picker, such as the Android photo picker. See Details on Google Play's Photo and Video Permissions policy.

• We are continuously working to ensure developers have the information they need to succeed. To make a request for data that you do not believe is already available via Play Console or other tools, please use this form.