Google Play Store Policy Update: App Review Will Take More Time

Google Play Store has been enjoying the reputation of being the undisputed leader in the mobile market. The platform is continuously offering new and exciting offers to both Android app developers and users, bringing it several points ahead of Apple, specially in terms of User Experience.

But there’s one factor where it is coming second to Apple, year-on-year: Security.

In the past few years, various malicious applications have been reported on Google Play Store, making every mobile segment stakeholders give the  title of ‘Android vs iOS: Which Platform is more secure’ to iOS.

However, Google took various significant steps in this direction. It deleted nearly 70,000 mobile apps, removed 85 adware-infected apps, and made it mandatory to build applications compatible with the latest OS versions. But, optimal results were never obtained. 

One of the reasons that was found to be operative behind this is the flexibility that Google offers in Play Store review process.

The tech giant was taking 2 hours or less as Google Play Store approval time to make any submitted application live, provided they were not related to pornography.They were not taking a deeper look into what all was enclosed in the mobile app’s ecosystem – like how Apple did. 

But now, as shared by Games LLC in their blog, Google will take more time for Android app approval process. They will analyze every particular element of the applications to ensure that users get a safe and secure app experience. 

This change in Play Store approval process is leaving a mark on the market – both from user and developer front. While it is giving users a relief from incidents like Uber Data Breach case, it is becoming a matter of concern for developers looking ahead to publish Android app on Play Store.

As per the Play Store support page, the approval time is not fixed. It can be anything from a few hours to days. Meaning, developers will not be able to announce the launch date of their application before it goes live and take the perks of pre-launch marketing effectively – even when they have implemented what has been shared in the Play Store optimization guides and religiously followed the Google Play Store policy update. 

Besides, this Play Store policy update will bring an impact on a few developer accounts only – the criteria of choosing which has not yet been disclosed. And above all, only new apps will go through this lengthy process for Google Play Store approval; older ones will still be updated via the earlier review process.

Now, while there is no clear guidelines shared by the Google’s team about how to cut down this Play Store approval time, Mr. Jacob Lehrabaum, Director of Android Developer Relations, has come up with the following steps to speed up the review process:-

1. Create a release in the closed Alpha track.
2. Tap on ‘Start rollout to Alpha’, once saving and reviewing of the release is done.
3. Wait for the approval of Alpha release. This step can’t be scheduled, but the app is also not available publicly in closed alpha.
4. Go to App Releases and create a Production release by clicking via Save, Review, and Start rollout to production.
5. Wait for the approval of Production release.
6. Click on ‘Go Live’ when the release is approved.

This method might not be straightforward, but will be effective when it comes to reducing the Google Play Store approval time, until some other method is being disclosed in the market.