Hi,
Today I had the unpleasant surprise to receive a series of email notifications from Google, telling me that all my apps had been removed from the Play Store!
Here is what the emails say:
Publishing status: Removed
Your app has been removed due to a policy violation. This app wonβt be available to users until you submit a compliant update.
Issue: Missing or inaccurate target audience information
Your app will be removed from Google Play for one of the following reasons:
β’ You have not yet completed the Target audience and content section of the Play Console for your app; OR
β’ You completed the Target audience and content section but your app was previously rejected due to inaccurate target audience information.
So, yes, I forgot to fill the App Content form in the Play Store developer console. But I didn't think Google would be as brutal as removing the apps from the store without any warning!
So I immediately went to the Google Play console, and filled the forms for every app (basically setting the target audience to 13+, to avoid possible issues with children-related extra policies). I clicked Submit to validate each form, but nothing much happened. I then resubmitted each app, by changing a few things in the "Store listing" section, just in case.
It's been about an hour, but for now, nothing changed and I still get an error at the top of the console page, telling me that my apps have been removed. My apps still seem in review though.
Did somebody here experience the same issue? Is filling the App Content form and submitting it is enough to have an app back on the Play Store, or are there extra steps I missed? And do you know how much time Google needs to validate the App Content forms?
This situation is pretty stressful. Thank you for your input.