Category: Google Play Developer

How to fix the “Families Data Practices” Google Play issue

Motivation:

You got the “Families Data Practices” issue from Google Play.
The detailed information is “your app or an SDK in your app transmits device identifier(s) from children or users of unknown age”.
This issue happens to your Android app with AdMob SDK.
You need to fix it to prevent your app from being removed from Google Play.

Solution:

1. Upgrade the AdMob SDK (Android) to the latest version.

2. Find the code below.

MobileAds.initialize(this, new OnInitializationCompleteListener() {
@Override
public void onInitializationComplete(InitializationStatus initializationStatus) {
}
});

3. Add the code below after the code above.

		RequestConfiguration requestConfiguration = MobileAds.getRequestConfiguration()
					.toBuilder()
					.setTagForChildDirectedTreatment(
							RequestConfiguration.TAG_FOR_CHILD_DIRECTED_TREATMENT_TRUE)
					.setMaxAdContentRating(RequestConfiguration.MAX_AD_CONTENT_RATING_G)
					.build();
			MobileAds.setRequestConfiguration(requestConfiguration);

TAG_FOR_CHILD_DIRECTED_TREATMENT_TRUE indicates that you want your content treated as child-directed for purposes of COPPA. This will prevent the transmission of the Android advertising identifier (AAID).

Rated G: General audiences – All ages admitted.

4. Add below code to AndroidManifest.xml to disable Analytics data collection.

<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID" tools:node="remove" />
<meta-data android:name="firebase_analytics_collection_deactivated" android:value="true" />
<meta-data android:name="google_analytics_adid_collection_enabled" android:value="false" />

5. Submit your new build to Google Play.

Include the below message in the review request.

We have fixed it by setting TAG_FOR_CHILD_DIRECTED_TREATMENT_TRUE and MAX_AD_CONTENT_RATING_G as suggested on https://support.google.com/admob/answer/6223431?hl=en.

6. Go to Google Play > Releases overview and check Install base percentage of your new version. Include below note to your Release note:

Families Data Practices issue fix.

7. Submit an appeal with the message below.

We have fixed the issue by 

1. Preventing the transmission of the Android advertising identifier (AAID) as suggested on https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6048248 , and

2. Disabling Analytics data collection based on https://firebase.google.com/docs/analytics/configure-data-collection?platform=android

Could you please rescan the NEW app, version 9.0, released on Dec 12, 2023 and remove this warning?

How to fill Google Play “Data safety” for an app with AdMob

Motivation:

You have a Google Play application that uses AdMob for displaying ads in order to generate revenue.

Google requires you to complete the data safety section.

There are many options and you are not sure which options should be selected.

Suggestion:

Here are the options that you may select.

1. Does your app collect or share any of the required user data types? – Yes.

2. Is all of the user data collected by your app encrypted in transit? – Yes.

3. My app does not allow users to create an account. – Selected.

4. Do you provide a way for users to request that their data is deleted? – No.

5. Location > Approximate location. – Selected.

6. App activity > App interactions. – Selected.

7. App info and performance > Crash logs. – Selected.

8. App info and performance > Diagnostics. – Selected.

9. Device or other identifiers > Device or other IDs. – Selected.

For each option from 5 to 9:

i) Is this data collected, shared, or both? Shared

ii) Is this data processed ephemerally? No

iii) Is this data required for your app, or can users choose whether it’s collected? Data collection is required (users can’t turn off this data collection)

iv) Why is this user data shared? Advertising or marketing

Reference: https://developers.google.com/admob/android/privacy/play-data-disclosure

How to avoid losing your Google Play Developer revenue?

Problem:

You went to Google Play Developer Console, then navigated to Settings > Developer account > Payments settings, then clicked on the View transactions button under the Transactions section.

Then you may have gotten a transaction with the Escheated to U.S. state or territory: DE description.

What happened?
The answer is that Google had given your revenue to U.S. state governments.

Clarification:

What is escheatment?

Google’s answer: Companies in the U.S. are obliged to give assets that they believe are abandoned to U.S. state governments. For U.S. residents it’s the state government of the state where you’ve told us you reside. If you reside outside the U.S., then it’s our state of incorporation (Delaware). We consider an account abandoned if there’s been no activity on that account for 2-5 years (depending on your state of residence). Activity on your account means:
– You signed in to your account, and
– You successfully received a payment from your account.

What should I do?
If your balance has been escheated to the state government, you can apply to your state government unclaimed property office to have the money returned to you. You can find your unclaimed property office by typing the name of your state together with “unclaimed property” into Google Search.

How can I avoid having my account balance escheated?
If you have enough of an account balance, then make sure that you’ve met the conditions to get paid. The most common reasons for not getting a payment are:
– You haven’t set up your form of payment, or
– You haven’t submitted your tax information, or
– You have not reached the payment threshold.

Lessons learned:

Set payment threshold to a small number so that you can get paid at least once. Then change it to any value that you want.

Source: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/6327445?hl=en