Google requires all apps on the Play Store have a privacy policy web page. When I tried submitting the Goofball app to the Play Store, it got rejected due to an "eligibility issue" related to "privacy policy".
The email they sent said:
You must provide a link to your app's privacy policy on your app's store listing page. This link must be maintained at all times while the app is available on Google Play, and it must link to a privacy policy that, among other things, accurately describes your app’s data collection and use. Please provide a link to a valid privacy policy in your app's store listing page in the Play Console. For more details, please refer to the Privacy policy section (#6) of the Families Policy Requirements.
But I did that! I created a simple privacy policy page. I didn't use a template because I wanted to keep it in simple English. The email from google even contained a screenshot of this page, but said nothing about what it's missing, or how it isn't valid. So frustrating.
So on October 16 (nearly a month ago), I contacted Google's support about how to move forward. I got a "I forwarded your question to the appropriate team at Google, and you can expect to hear from them soon". I've been waiting to hear back since then. So I've been blocked. But yesterday I tried complaining through a different form, and I think I finally got some useful feedback! The screenshot attached to this post is from that email. It says:
It is also pertinent that the privacy policy page clearly indicates the names of the apps that the Privacy Policy pertains to.
Oh! Maybe my app got rejected because my privacy policy page didn't have the name "Goofball" on it (even though it's hosted on the goofball.fun domain… whatever). I updated my privacy policy page to hopefully appease Google.
The experience of getting this up and running and downloadable on Android has been so shitty. It's extremely frustrating to have an app rejected without receiving instructions on what to change in order to get it accepted.
Also, I still haven't gotten to a point where friends can run this on their devices to confirm that it works. So annoying that "aCTuALLY yOur priVAcy PolicY isN't COrREct" has blocked me from getting to that point for nearly a month.
Have any of you had similar issues getting on the Play Store? Or Apple's App Store?