{"id":40243,"date":"2013-04-26T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-26T17:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=40243"},"modified":"2025-07-02T01:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T08:29:08","slug":"google-bans-non-play-store-app-updates-on-android","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/google-bans-non-play-store-app-updates-on-android\/","title":{"rendered":"Google bans non-Play store app updates on Android"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"googleGoogle updated its Google Play Developer Program Policies<\/a> to ban non-Play store updates on Android. This comes after Facebook began experimenting pushing app updates<\/a> without using Google Play.<\/p>\n

Recently, Google has been under fire for creating a more restrictive operating system than its open source roots would have you believe. Last month Google quietly removed all ad-blocking apps<\/a> from its Play store, stating that ad-blockers interfered with the functionality of other apps. Developer Adblock Plus<\/a> had to resort to distributing their app directly from their website.<\/p>\n

Under the “Dangerous Products” section of the Developer Program Policies, there’s a line that reads:<\/p>\n

“An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In contrast to the section cited as the reason for removing ad-blockers, this section is direct and goes as far as calling Facebook’s approach “dangerous.” Facebook will have to remove direct over-the-air updates of its Android app if it wishes to stay in Google’s Play store.<\/p>\n

For developers, this is a stark reminder that they’re playing in Google’s sandbox.<\/p>\n

Source: Google Play Developer Program Policies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google updated its Google Play Developer Program Policies to ban non-Play store updates on Android. This comes after Facebook began experimenting pushing app updates without using Google Play. Recently, Google has been under fire for creating a more restrictive operating system than its open source roots would have you believe. Last month Google quietly removed … Continue reading “Google bans non-Play store app updates on Android”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":28112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[2340],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-40243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-app-subdomain-redirectiongoogle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t