Compliance
21 post(s)
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Google Play Terms update (effective July 29, 2026): background data language + subscription charge window
Google’s updated Play Terms (July 29, 2026 version) tightens the language around background data usage and clarifies a 48-hour subscription charge window. It’s not a growth ‘feature’, but it can drive support tickets and renewal expectation mismatches.
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Google Play (US): your listing can appear in third-party store catalogs (and you must opt out if you don’t want it)
Google Play says US app and game listings (name, icon, description, screenshots, video) may be shared with enrolled third-party US Android app stores starting July 22, 2026. The download still completes through Google Play, but your catalog footprint just got wider.
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Google Play (US): third-party app stores are about to be installable from the Play Store (MacRumors)
A court injunction is pushing Google to support alternative app stores in the US starting July 22. The practical shift is not sideloading as a niche, it is ‘rival stores’ being distributed inside the Play Store UI, with Google still collecting its service fee.
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Apple Ads publishes Maps + News/Stocks policies (July 2026): what’s actually prohibited
Apple’s Advertising Services policies for News/Stocks, Maps, and Sports Programming read like ‘App Store rules, but for ads’. The practical angle: copy quality, substantiation, UI-mimic bans, and a surprisingly specific Maps category exclusion list.
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App Store Connect age ratings now ask about social media capabilities (Apple Developer News)
A summary of Apple’s new age-rating questions for ‘social media capabilities’, how it affects the Time Allowances Social Media category, and what teams should do before September submissions.
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Google Play: age verification bills turn into product work (Play Age Signals API, Texas SB 2420)
Google Play outlines how Texas’ SB 2420 and similar laws change developer obligations, introducing the Play Age Signals API (beta) plus new Play Console workflows for ‘significant changes’ and parental approval status.
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A quick reality check on App Store privacy labels and ATT: the numbers are still huge (42matters)
42matters keeps a rolling snapshot of App Store privacy label declarations. The useful part is not the exact percentages, it’s the gut-check: how many apps still declare tracking, background location access, and analytics-linked data at scale.
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App Store review rejections are rarely ‘random’. They’re usually untestable flows (AppFollow)
AppFollow’s 2026 guide reframes App Review as a verification problem: reviewers reject what they can’t access, can’t validate, or can’t reconcile with metadata. The actionable bit is a pre-submit checklist that treats review like QA, not paperwork.
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US distribution shift: Google Play may share your store listing with third-party Android app stores
Google says that for US users, developers can opt out, but otherwise Google Play will begin providing app listing(s) to third-party US Android app stores via the Play Catalog Access program. The operator risk is copy-and-asset drift: your ‘official’ listing content may show up in more places than you expect.
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Apple updated the Developer Program License Agreement for Brazil, alternative distribution, payments, and out-of-app offers
Apple revised Attachment 12 of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement to spell out Brazil-specific terms for iOS apps, including alternative distribution, alternative payments, out-of-app offers, and the Core Technology Commission. Treat it as launch-risk hygiene: review, accept, and make sure your legal and release checklists reflect the new rails.
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Apple updates the Developer Program License Agreement and App Review Guidelines (June 2026)
Apple revised key sections of the Developer Program License Agreement and App Review Guidelines. Here’s what changed at a practical level, and what to sanity-check so reviews and releases don’t get surprised.
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Why youth-sensitive app environments are becoming a real compliance problem for advertisers
Mike Rhodes argues that as programmatic buying gets more automated and more fragmented, suitability risk moves from ‘the edge cases’ into mainstream mobile inventory. The practical answer is app-level governance: clear thresholds, repeatable scoring, and auditable Accept/Refer/Decline decisions.
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Google Play: Developer Program Policy update (effective May 27, 2026)
A credited summary of Google Play’s May 27, 2026 Developer Program Policy update, with a focus on the operational bits that can quietly block releases (especially child safety standards for Social and Dating apps).
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Google Play Billing v8 migration: what actually changes (and what to fix before v9)
A credited summary of RevenueCat’s practical migration guide for Play Billing Library v8: what APIs changed, what teams commonly miss, and how to avoid a last-minute scramble when v9 lands.
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Apple now requires a Brazilian betting license for fixed-odds gambling apps in the Brazil App Store
Apple Developer News says fixed-odds betting apps can be distributed in Brazil, but only if you provide a valid SPA license during a new version submission.
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Epic v Apple: stay reversed, App Store external payments rules back in play
The Ninth Circuit reversed a stay that had paused enforcement while Apple pursues another Supreme Court appeal in Epic v Apple. Practically, this pulls App Store ‘external purchase’ rules and fees back into the spotlight again, and teams should be ready for link-out UX and commission policy changes.
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Apple updated the Developer Program License Agreement (again). If you ship privacy-sensitive features, skim the diffs
Apple’s March 30, 2026 update to the Apple Developer Program License Agreement adds more explicit requirements around specific frameworks (including privacy expectations). It’s the kind of ‘legal’ change that becomes a product/fire-drill if you only notice it during a release.
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Apple will show ‘regulated medical device’ status on App Store pages in the EEA, UK, and US
A credited summary of Apple’s March 26, 2026 update: some Health & Fitness and Medical apps must now declare regulated medical device status in App Store Connect, with new compliance cutoffs for new apps now and existing apps by early 2027.
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Maryland’s ‘App Store Accountability Act’ idea: why blanket age verification at the store layer is risky
R Street argues Maryland HB1179 would push app stores toward broad age verification and parental consent gates, creating privacy/security risk and likely constitutional problems.
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Feroot: CCPA for mobile apps (SDK tracking risks and the compliance gap)
A sharp reminder that ‘we passed App Store review’ is not a privacy program. Regulators increasingly expect publishers to actively govern SDK data flows, propagate opt-outs into SDK configs, and detect drift when vendors change runtime behavior.
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Google Play (US): external links and alternative billing are now ‘allowed’, but the programs still govern the workflow
Google’s Play Console Help page summarises what changed for US users during the Epic injunction period: developers can link out and use non-Play billing, but only via the published programs (payments policy, alternative billing, and external content links).