Google has been cracking down on in-app purchases (IAP). Recent sanctions in the European Union, as well as by the FTC in the US has seen Google (and others) taken to task over the ease with which children can access IAP and how hard it is to then refund those purchases. Google is about to get a little more serious about IAP in a big way at the end of this month.
The Android Developer Console has some announcements for developers, which will go into effect as of the 30th of September. The first announcement is that going forward, any developer who has publishes apps which require a purchase, whether it be an initial payment or contain IAP will require a physical address.
If you have paid apps or apps with in-app purchases, it’s mandatory to provide a physical address where you can be contacted, as you are the seller of that content, to comply with consumer protection laws. If you don’t provide a physical address on your account, it may result in your apps being removed from the Play Store.
Whether a physical address, or indeed just a physical location such as a PO box is required hasn’t actually been clarified. If indeed a PO box is not acceptable, for smaller developers this could present a problem, with many not having an office and simply working out of their homes. We’ll have to wait and see.
The second change, is that developers who include IAP within their applications, whether it’s subscriptions, or one-off purchases will have to include a price range of those payments on their detail page in Google Play.
If any of your apps offer paid in-app features or subscriptions, go to your app’s In-app Products page to review the prices and publishing status of your in-app items.
It’s a pretty big move for Google, and while they’re good for consumers it could be a bit more difficult for developers. We’ll have to see exactly how this pans out for them in the coming weeks.
Is this a good move by Google or something that’s not really required?
