Blocks submissionBoth stores

Ads fit the rating, are dismissible, stay inside the app, and never imitate the interface

The question The binaries carry an ads SDK. Are ads appropriate for the app's content rating? Can every ad be dismissed without penalty? Do ads appear only inside the app, never on the home screen or on exit? Does no ad imitate the app's or the system's interface? Is there nothing that hides ads or fakes clicks?

A person or a model answers it from the app's texts and screens; the answer is kept only while the facts it saw are unchanged.

Applies when signal:ads

Checked from built, not yet uploaded, on a test track, submitted and in review, published

The rule, in our words

• Ads: Ads and their offers are part of the app and must follow all Play policies: they must fit the app's content rating; must not imitate app or system UI (notifications, warnings) and must make clear which app serves them; must not be disruptive, cover the screen without a clear dismiss, use false dismiss buttons, appear outside the app, trigger on the home button, or block use until clicked; unexpected full-screen interstitials (at level or content start, before the splash screen) are banned and interrupting interstitials must be closeable after 15 seconds, though opt-in or non-interrupting interstitials may run longer and rewarded, user-opted-in ads are outside this rule; apps that show interstitials repeatedly after each action are banned; no lockscreen monetization unless that is the app's sole purpose; apps targeting children follow the Families ads rules; location data used for ads must be disclosed in the privacy policy and location permission may not be requested only for ads; the Android advertising ID must be used in place of any other device identifier for advertising, must not be linked to persistent identifiers, and its opt-out setting must be respected.
• Ad Fraud: No hidden or invisible ads, no automatic or tricked clicks, no fake install attributions, no ads outside the app, and no lying to ad networks about the package name, device type or inventory.
• App Review Guidelines: Unacceptable: an app-store-like catalogue of third-party apps; inflating ad impressions or being mostly ads; collecting charity funds in-app unless an approved nonprofit; arbitrarily restricting users by location or carrier; manipulating rank on other services; binary options; unlicensed CFD or forex trading; loans above 36% APR, without full terms shown, or due in 60 days or less; and forcing people to rate, review or install other apps to use the app.

Okkok never stores the stores' text. Each item above is our paraphrase, and the link is the page it rests on, verified unchanged by fingerprint on every run.

The other store

• Google specifies timing (15 seconds), bans unexpected full-screen interstitials and lockscreen monetization; Apple requires a user reporting path for ads, which Google does not. partial
• Same numbers (36% APR, 60 days), but Apple's APR cap applies globally while Google's applies to the United States; Google adds Finance-category placement, TILA-compliant APR display, and forbids loan apps holding contacts, location, storage, media and phone-number permissions. google-stricter
• Google enumerates hidden ads, tricked clicks, fake install attributions and lying to ad networks; Apple states only inflation. same
• Google also bans incentives for ratings, deceptive rating pop-ups, fake or repeated reviews and reviews carrying coupons. same

Check your app

pip install git+https://github.com/petresandu-cloud/okkok
okkok audit path/to/app

The report names this rule as both.ads-behave and says what to do, who does it, where, and how it knows.