55

There is a message on top of the Dashboard of my every app in Google Play Console saying:

You must have account hold and restore implemented in your app by November 1, 2020. Subscription pause and resubscribe will also be enabled by default, unless you explicitly opt out.

I don't have any paid apps in my Google Play Console account yet, I am confused about this.

Is this message applicable only for paid apps? If not, when or for whom this message will be applicable and what he/she will need to do then?

Rawnak Yazdani
  • 1,333
  • 2
  • 12
  • 23
  • 1
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it concerns the policies and procedures of app distribution services, rather than programming. Please refer to: [Are developer-centric questions about application stores on topic?‍](//meta.stackoverflow.com/q/272165), [Why can't I ask customer service-related questions?](//meta.stackoverflow.com/a/255746) – Makyen Oct 17 '20 at 01:18
  • 2
    It means they can't stop doing stupid pointless changes otherwise they would be fired for not doing anything – Eduard Unruh Oct 17 '20 at 11:37

3 Answers3

36

As mentioned in Android Developers Blog,

Account hold is a state the user enters after a renewal fails due to a payment issue. During account hold, the user loses access to the subscription while Google notifies the user and retries the payment method.

Restore enables users to resume auto-renewals after they have canceled the subscription but before the subscription expires.

So you have to make changes only if you have subscriptions in your app and using Google Play Billing to manage them.

!! Please notice that in the new payments policy, Google enforces the app providers to use Google Play’s billing system if they are selling subscriptions, virtual items, app features, or cloud services.

Yuri Misyac
  • 4,364
  • 2
  • 16
  • 32
MujtabaFR
  • 5,956
  • 6
  • 40
  • 66
  • 2
    I have in-app purchase on my free app, but i do not support subscription model. Do i need to handle this? – Shashank Degloorkar Oct 13 '20 at 00:52
  • 3
    @ShashankDegloorkar no, in-app purchase is not affected, only apps with subscriptions need to be updated. – MujtabaFR Oct 13 '20 at 02:02
  • 34
    Why couldn't Google explain this properly in their Dashboard warning? It's not even clear in the blog post. It's annoying to have to spend time to google for this answer. – chetstone Oct 14 '20 at 17:55
  • 1
    The link you provided to the new billing policy mentions only in-app purchases, not subscriptions, as far as I can see. – syonip Oct 15 '20 at 05:30
  • @syonip Subscriptions are part of in-app purchases.. read point 2.a in the payments policy .. https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9992660 – MujtabaFR Oct 16 '20 at 00:18
  • We used to support subscription, and now not support. But can not remove them according below this link. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15783694/how-to-remove-subscription-from-product-list-in-developer-console-and-what-will Do i need to handle this? – oolionoo Oct 16 '20 at 03:12
  • @MujtabaFR Does that mean that apps that require external subscription like Spotify, Netflix, Audible are violating policy? – syonip Oct 16 '20 at 06:49
  • In giving the above answer, two paragraphs are quoted from the Android Developers Blog, one paragraph on Account Hold and one on Restore. The prior sentence before the two quoted paragraphs reads "Account hold and restore will both be mandatory for all developers." Personally, I feel that it is a bit of a leap of faith to draw the conclusion from this Android Developers Blog alone that a free app is exempt. – Seemingly Unimaginative Oct 21 '20 at 15:56
18

After a long, long time of searching, I finally found an official answer from someone affiliated with Google (provided two days ago).

"If your Android app sells subscription products, then you will need to make sure these subscription features (account hold, restore, pause, and resubscribe) are supported. If your Android app does not sell subscription products, you will not need to worry about this upcoming change."

The answer is here: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/170592154

Seemingly Unimaginative
  • 181
  • 3
9

Whether you have a paid app or in-app purchases or you use any external payment gateway you will not face any issues unless you have any subscription model from Google Play Billing.

Azmia Hoque Radhio
  • 314
  • 2
  • 7
  • 2
    I don't have any subscription/in-app in my app, but still this warning appears. Do I need to do anything special or just ignore this warning? – Waqar UlHaq Oct 13 '20 at 08:30
  • 2
    @WaqarUlHaq this is my question as well. My app is completely free and has never had any subscriptions or purchases, but the warning message on Play Console was concerning because it sounded like I was required to make a change. – Matt Lampe Oct 13 '20 at 23:30
  • 1
    @WaqarUlHaq you can just ignore this warning! – Azmia Hoque Radhio Oct 14 '20 at 16:54