New policy for kids apps on Google Play rolls out

Google announced a new developer policy to provide additional protection for children and families looking for a kids app on Google Play. The new policy requires developers to ensure that their applications meet all necessary policy and regulatory requirements for children’s applications in terms of content, advertising, and how to handle personally identifiable information.

Image: android-developers

First, developers are asked to consider whether a child is part of a target audience, and if not, developers must ensure that their applications don’t inadvertently attract them. Google said it will now check the marketing of an app again to confirm the situation and ask for changes as needed.

Apps for children must meet the policy requirements for content and personally identifiable information processing. For developers who follow the rules, this is not new, because, for years, Google has been developing application-related policies around child safety as part of the “Designing Apps for Children and Families” program.

In addition, child-targeted app developers can only advertise from an ad network that has proven to be in compliance with Google’s family policy. In order to implement these policies on a large scale, Google now requires all developers to complete the new target audience and content sections of the Google Play console. Here they must specify their application. If they say that the child is the target, they will have to comply with the relevant policies.