Google's latest Play policy changes could bring some new emoji to your favorite apps

They also tackle regional enforcement issues and social interactions for kids apps

App publishers and consumers will need to be aware of some new Play Store policies coming into effect over the next several months. It'll keep devs on their toes for new emoji, keep kids safe while interacting with others, and provide some granularity on where certain apps can be seen.

The new rules, announced today, will go live in three steps.

December 1, 2021

In the first batch to come into effect, the Play Store will gain the power to prevent an app from being visible in certain regions if, specifically, it is deemed to contain inappropriate sexual content and/or profanity. More generally, region-limiting will also become a general enforcement tool for other matters Google may deem necessary — copyright issues, for example. This is separate from completely zeroing out the app's visibility where only people with the app's Play Store link can access it, the only enforcement option in current policy. Updates will no longer be passed along to current users in excepted regions, but the apps can still be used.

Also on the docket is a prohibition on apps published by Dangerous Movements or Organizations that have "engaged in, prepared for or claimed responsibility for acts of violence against civilians." Anyone publishing an app glorifying such acts for educational, documentary, satirical, or artistic purposes must include relevant context.

February 2, 2022

If an app contains code that downloads what's called Mobile Unwanted Software (MUwS), publishers will need to get rid of it. Such Hostile Downloader code may be identified based on suspicion that the behavior was intended mainly to download MUwS or if at least 5% of apps download by the code are deemed to be MUwS based on at least 500 observed downloads. This could put some third-party app stores at risk of breach.

Also from this point, apps that run on Android 12 or later will need to support the latest Unicode Emoji library within 4 months of its public release. This should relieve some of the emoji anxiety some of you have using certain apps that lag behind the curve.

Devs: if you use AppCompat, flick on the Emoji toggle. For apps with views using StaticLayout, make sure EmojiCompat is applied across all surfaces. Or, you know, you can just manually update things. New Emoji version releases typically occur every spring and fall with the latest one being Emoji 14.0 on September 7.

April 1, 2022

Publishers of apps targeting kids that contain elements of social interaction will need to disclose these elements in their content rating questionnaire. Such an app should prompt its users about the risks of social interaction and give them safety tips. Most importantly, adult action must be required before kids share personal information. If the app in question isn't a social networking app, but still has social interaction features, it must also allow adults to limit or turn off those features. Adult action will involve some sort of authentication to make it difficult for kids to give themselves the permissions they want.

If the main purpose of an app is for users to come into contact with people they do not know such as a chat roulette or even an open forum, it should not be targeted to kids.

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