What are the reasons provided by Google for not approving the app?

Google reviews all the apps submitted to the Google Play Store to examine the app’s content. To ensure that the app is reliable and free from objectionable content, Google has provided some guidelines and if the app meets the specified guidelines, the app is approved and published on the Google Play Store. 

In case, the app doesn’t meet any of their guidelines then it will not be approved and Google will send you an email to notify you regarding the rejection of the app with the supporting reasons. If you receive the rejection emails or any other similar emails, please get in touch with our support team or send an email to our submission team at [email protected]

To get your app through the review process quickly and make you aware of the app rejection reasons beforehand, we have compiled the possible reasons that Google sends to its users for not approving the app. Following are the possible reasons:

1. Violating Permissions and Location Permissions Policies


Google rejects the app that violates the Permissions & Location Permissions Policies. As per the policy, you may only request permissions that are necessary to implement critical, current features or services in your application. You may not use permissions that give access to user or device data for undisclosed, unimplemented, or disallowed features or purposes. In order for our team to check for compliance, we must be able to review and verify your in-app experience.

Below is the sample rejection reason that Google sends to the users for violating Permissions and Location Permissions Policies.

• We detected that your app contains at least one feature that requests access to location in the background, however, your permission declaration form did not reflect this. Please log in to your Play Console to resubmit your location declaration form. You may either remove location in the background from your app or indicate that the usage is in the background.


If you receive the above-listed reason or any other similar reasons, please get in touch with Appy Pie’s support team as soon as possible.

2. App contains Security Vulnerabilities  


Google rejects apps that contain security vulnerabilities for users as these vulnerabilities can expose user information or damage a user’s device. This is considered a violation of Google’s Malicious Behaviour Policy.

Below is the sample rejection reason that Google sends to the users for violating Google’s Malicious Behaviour Policy:

• We reviewed your app and found that your app uses software that contains security vulnerabilities for users. Apps with these vulnerabilities can expose user information or damage a user’s device and may be considered to be in violation of our Malicious Behavior policy. Below is the list of issues and the corresponding APK versions that were detected in your recent submission. Please migrate your apps to use the updated software as soon as possible and increment the version number of the upgraded APK.


If you receive the above-listed reason or any other similar reason, please get in touch with Appy Pie’s support team as soon as possible.

3. App Lacks a Valid Privacy Policy & Prominent Disclosure


Google rejects app that does not have a valid privacy policy and prominent disclosure. As per Google's Prominent Disclosure requirement, the disclosure must highlight how the user data will be used, describe the type of data being collected, and have the user provide affirmative consent for such use.

Below is the sample rejection reason that Google sends to the users for not meeting Google's Prominent Disclosure requirement:

• Your app is uploading users' Contact List information to https://www.appexecutable.com without a prominent disclosure. Make sure to also post a privacy policy in both the designated field in the Play Developer Console and from within the Play distributed app itself.

  For further details on the valid prominent disclosure requirement, please review the “Prominent Disclosure & Consent Requirement” section under the User Data policy.

If you receive the above-listed reason or any other similar reason, please get in touch with Appy Pie’s support team as soon as possible.