- Google has announced upcoming policy changes to app titles, icons, and assets in the Play Store.
- Developers must comply with or risk removing their app from the Play Store.
- The new guidelines will be implemented later this year, but no official date has been given.
The Google Play Store is a dizzying swamp of apps, especially for first-time users. Some of these purposely mislead the uninitiated with their catchy titles, symbols, and assets. Now, Google is giving developers time to fix these issues before enforcing new policy changes later this year.
Announced in a developer blog post (h / t XDA) Will prevent Google developers from embellishing their apps with potentially misleading titles and icons. These new guidelines force developers to provide Play Store users with accurate information about their app.
What are these changes? For starters, the length of the app title is limited to 30 characters. The titles are also free of ranking descriptors or other performance indicators, advertising information, emoticons or repeated special characters. These rules also apply to developer titles. Below is an example of the changes.
Google notes that apps that do not meet these requirements will no longer be allowed in the Google Play Store in the future.
What this means for Google Play Store users
The policy changes are a welcome move from Google, but it’s better late than never. These steps should make it easier for users to find real apps, or at least apps with accurate descriptions and titles. However, it may not directly fix other issues like app cloning or the multitude of fake apps available.
The new guidelines also apply to function graphics, screenshots, videos and brief descriptions. If Google’s guidelines are not followed, apps cannot “be used for advertising and recommendations on major Google Play interfaces such as Apps and Games Home”.
Google will announce these changes well in advance of enforcement to help developers get their homes in order. Google will announce an exact implementation date later this year.