Convert your website to an app, design custom screens, engage users, and track insights — all with Twinr.
Get customized mobile app solutions for every industry and platform.
Your knowledge hub for seamless mobile app creation and optimization!
Home » Blogs » How to Avoid Play Store Rejections: Common Developer Mistakes
By Gaurav Parvadiya | Last Updated On January 20th, 2026
Google Play Store Rejection is one of the biggest roadblocks developers face when launching an Android app. Every year, thousands of apps are rejected due to avoidable mistakes related to policies, metadata, performance, and privacy. If you want your app approved on the first attempt, understanding why Google Play Store rejection happens—and how to prevent it—is critical to saving time, money, and your developer reputation.
Gambling should not be a part of the application process for the Google Play Store. Every year, developers are faced with frustrating rejection. Many times, this is caused by common mistakes that could be easily fixed. Do you want your app published after the first attempt? Learn how to avoid Play Store rejection so you can confidently go live with your app in less time and for less money.
From developing to launching your app, a lot of effort and money goes into having a successful app debut. A rejection from the Google Play store can deeply affect your launch and your budget, and add to your developer reputation. Statista states that there are over 2.7 million apps to compete in the Google Play store. It is important to avoid rejection when trying to distinguish your app from the rest.
Account suspensions due to mistakes that can easily be avoided are rejections can lead to bans. This puts your app and future endeavors in jeopardy. The best course of action is to identify mistakes to guarantee that your app will be successfully approved and market ready.
Having inappropriate or copyrighted content, False advertising, Trademark infringement, operating a trademarked app without permission, or advertising features your app does not deliver.
Google’s content policies must be reviewed.
Review every image, video, and written content in the app to make sure that the rights are owned or the app developer has a license to use the content.
Do not exaggerate or overpromise the features that the app can deliver, or the promises that are misleading to the reviewers and the app users.
When an app is discovered with violations and the policies are fixable, the app will be rejected, and it will take weeks to fix the violations, costing you a lot of time and loss of credibility. To avoid these spending mistakes, to build your app, and to assemble your listing to the best of your ability within the bounds of Google policy, you will remain to be within the compliance framework.
Missing and not described app, uncomplete app description, low-worthy or completely unrepresentative screenshots, no presence of the privacy policy, or no local content. Developers frequently neglect to include paramount keywords or inclusive policies for users.
Provide the app with a precise description with a lot of benefits, and make an elevator pitch with a lot of keywords that will help it rank. In other words, make the store listing as the pitch banner.
Ensure the provided screenshot and other materials are distinguished, aligned, and of great resolution. Ensure that it shows the primary operating features. Make certain that the privacy policy is always placed. It is a requirement when you store data of a personal nature.
To achieve local markets, customize and revise your materials to suit the differing cultural environments, languages, and geographic locations.
When the metadata is incomplete, it describes the app’s quality that Google tends to evaluate through the app. The misleading information Google tends to reject and the app’s overshadowed discoverability.
App crashes, unresponsive features, or it poor drives across devices. Google’s review screens for stability apps, bugs are, and a rejection cause is the apps are instant.
Test comprehensively on numerous Android devices, various screen sizes, and different OS versions. Before submission, use crash analytics tools like Firebase Crashlytics to detect and fix bugs. Your app should run optimally on newer devices as well as older ones, so focus on resolving performance issues. Android best practices for stability may be found here.
Functional bugs indicate poor quality and can lead to app rejection. Addressing the stability of your app prior to submission can prevent weeks of delays in app resubmissions.
It can consist of a jumbled UI, small targets for tapping, ads, and a variety of different things. Apps that feel unprofessional, or that obstruct the user experience, are likely to be rejected.
Layout, typography, and touch targets should adhere to Google’s Material Design standards.
Make tapping buttons easier by ensuring they are a minimum of 48dp in height.
Make the navigation structure more clear, and ensure that the interactive components are consistent.
Avoid user interaction ads and other interactive components where user inputs are not accepted.
An important signal of low quality is poor user experience. It can cause manual reviews, and in some cases, even lead to the application being rejected.
There is a lack of user permission, user data is being shared, and there is no clear policy on how data is being used and shared, or there’s the use of banned SDK’s.
Go into detail about the data you are collecting and for what purpose in your privacy policy.
Make sure to set permission restrictions to what is necessary.
If sensitive data is being collected, make sure to get affirmative user consent, and use SDK’s that comply with Google’s policies.
Routinely check for compliance to the GDPR and CCPA.
You will get a rejection if you are not compliant, and for bigger issues you can get your entire account suspended. Being transparent with your policies will earn you the trust of users and help avoid delays in the review process.
Visuals and app descriptions that are not up to date, are not in sync with the app, lack localization, and broken text or links in the app listing.
Make sure that you update your screenshots to reflect the latest version of the app.
If you are targeting a global market, make sure the app description is properly translated to the targeting local language.
Make sure that all links in the store (privacy, contact, support, etc.) are working.
Do not use enticing visuals that can set the wrong expectations for the app.
If Google feels that there is a lack of representation for what is in the store and what is being offered in the app, manual rejection is a real possibility. Google wants the listings in the store to have accurate and a great representation of what the app can do.
Last-minute changes to things like SDK, monetization, and/or in-app content policies.
Establish a routine to monitor changes in Google Play Developer Policy.
Google approves certain SDKs. Use these and avoid cancelled or restricted APIs.
To keep up to date with the latest policy changes, sign up for developer alerts.
Before every submission, thoroughly check the app to confirm that it meets all new policies.
Updated policies that aren’t followed result in rejection, with the possibility of being banned. Once banned, all future apps might be restricted as well.
Not getting rejected by the Play Store is not about luck, it is about the preparation done before hand. Ensuring that your app is Policy compliant, your content is compliant, your testing is clear and your metadata is clear are all things that can help you not get rejected. Tools like Twinr help you app deploy easier with less mistakes.
How to publish your app without fear? Use Twinr’s platform to build, and publish your app with no mistakes, improve your chances to get approved and get your app to your users.
There are unaddressed content issues, metadata issues, crashing, poor user experience, privacy issues, and policies.
You need to test your app, complete all aspects of the metadata, and understand the policies that govern the app.
Yes, Twinr uses guided workflows to help reduce mistakes with metadata, design, and compliance, which helps get your app approved quicker.
Before submitting, regularly check policy updates and subscribe to developer alerts to stay informed.
To reduce review time, submit a complete listing that is policy compliant, well tested, and has no major bugs.
Gaurav is the founder and CEO of Twinr, a tech entrepreneur with a decade of experience and a passion for SaaS. With a Master's degree in Computer Science, he specializes in no-code development, driving innovation in the mobile app industry. When he's not busy growing the company, you'll find him writing about tech, growth, software development, e-commerce, and occasionally sneaking in a game of badminton.