How to Resolve Violation of Usage of Android Advertising ID policy

Unity Courses Ask
#1

I finally published my first Unity game on google play store (Big thank you to everyone here at GameDev.TV for helping me get this far) but it was taken down because of:

Violation of Usage of Android Advertising ID policy and section 4.8 of the Developer Distribution Agreement

The game is free to download, no in app purchases and no unity analytics are enabled. So here is my question:

  1. Is this a mistake or does unity collect data that I dont know about that I need to include in a privacy policy

  2. How would I even check all the user data that is being collected by my game to include in a privacy policy?

  3. I see that a privacy policy needs to be posted in the store listing and in a url to the game website… I dont have a website for my game do i really need to purchase hosting just to be able to keep my game up on the play store?

1 Like
#2

Hi,

The newer versions of Unity install various packages when you create a new project. Make sure you remove them via the package manager, especially Analytics and Ads. I don’t know if this will prevent Unity from collecting data. Furthermore, I am no lawyer, so I cannot help you with any legal questions.

Please feel free to ask our helpful community of students for advice in our official Discord chat.

#3

Got the same issue with my first game,

i was using ads which is considered " collecting data" i think, and at the same time i didn’t make any privacy policy or anything, you should make one (just find a template online and add your adds provider in it) and then host it in a website (also use one of the site creators online dont bother creating one yourself) and add a link to the website in the play store console (you will find the place to put it) they also require you to add a link inside the game as well (via a button or a mark) although i didn’t add one inside the game and got accepted anyway.

However, if you are not using ads then you are collecting data some other way, just list them and make the users know what you are collecting.

#4

Thank you Nina, I appreciate your response. This is a good start, I will try to look into the package manager to find more information. My main concern is having my game collect data without me even knowing it and there’s nothing I can do because I don’t know where or what it is. So even if I wanted to create a privacy policy I wouldn’t be able to accurately do so.

P.S. I already asked in discord and its been buried under a mountain of other posts. :slight_smile:

#5

Thank you Fawaz, I appreciate the anecdotal experience. This gave me a better picture of what other people have done to resolve their issue in the past so this was very helpful in building perspective. Thank you.

#6

You are welcome friend, are you using the users device (camera or any other resource ?), it could be considered collecting.

Also i guess PlayerPrefs are loaded each time the game starts, so i think they are collectible, if you are using them state in the privacy policy

#7

That is a good question. I have not added anything special other than playerprefs to track the highscore. Do you have any idea how to check what components/resources your game is using on the user device because that is my main issue. I can’t find a comprehensive list of what my game is collecting from the user.

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