Google to remove a large chunk of apps from Play Store that violate User Data policy

Google has started sending emails to certain Android app developers around the globe telling them that their apps might be violating the company’s user data policy. Basically when an app asks for, or gets access to personal or device information, a valid privacy policy should be provided to consumers by the developer. This is a clear indication that Google will be doing some spring cleaning of the Play Store soon. According to the email, developers have to provide a link to a valid privacy policy on their app’s Store Listing page and within the app by 15 March. They also have an option to revise their app so that it doesn’t request for sensitive permissions such as the camera, microphone, contacts, accounts and phone. Failure to provide a link might lead to a lower visibility of their app or even have the app removed from the Play Store by Google.  It seems like a nice move to remove all those junk apps from the Play Store. The purge could significantly bring down the number of apps on the platform, but certain app developers seem to be happy with the decision. According to Jack Cooney of Nerd Agency, creator of the Hip Hop Ninja! app says, “I think it’s fantastic, this will clear the Google Play store of so many junk and zombie apps that our games will find increased visibility on the store as the search terms will become much less cluttered. This will make it easier for people to be able to find our app’s like Hop Hop Ninja! with better keyword searches like ninja or Nerd Agency and find much more relevant results. (A previous pain point of developing for Android).”