Google Will Now Require All App Publishers With Paid Apps Or In-App Purchases To Have An Address On File In Google Play

Google is set to institute a new policy in the Play Store, and it has some developers up in arms. A message in the developer console (seen below) has appeared asking developers to add a physical address to their account profile. For those offering paid apps and in-app purchases, this is mandatory as of September 30th. Failing to do so could result in Mountain View pulling the apps.

The notice points out that this address will be visible on the app details page for all users of the Play Store. Here’s the full text.

So it will probably be treated just like the email address or website link—right there for all to see. At first blush, this doesn’t sound like a big deal. However, not all developers work out of a big office, and they might not like having their home address so publicly available. Using a PO box might be a possible workaround, assuming Google accepts it.

As it currently stands, you can see a developer’s street address in your Google Wallet account after buying something, but that’s a long way from having it pinned on the public app page. The dev console also seems like a poor place to alert developers to such an important change—an email explaining the issue might be better. Presumably Google sees this as a way to improve accountability and discourage spammy paid apps. Indie developers definitely aren’t cool with the lack of privacy, though.

[Developer Console  – Thanks, Matthias]