New requirements for developers regarding identification confirmation starting August 31, 2023

Hi,

in my Google Play console I have these New Requirements:

Neue Anforderungen an Entwickler hinsichtlich der Identifikationsbestätigung ab dem 31. August 2023

3. Aug. 2023 17:00
Wir möchten das Vertrauen in und die Transparenz bei Google Play steigern. Aus diesem Grund aktualisieren wir die Anforderungen an Entwickler hinsichtlich der Identifikationsbestätigung in unserer Richtlinie zu den Vorgaben zur Nutzung der Play Console.
Wenn du nach dem 31. August 2023 ein neues Play Console-Entwicklerkonto für deine Organisation erstellen möchtest, benötigst du Folgendes:

• eine D‑U‑N‑S-Nummer für deine Organisation: Die D‑U‑N‑S-Nummer wird von Dun & Bradstreet ausgegeben und ist eine eindeutige neunstellige Nummer, die weltweit zur Identifizierung von Unternehmen verwendet wird. Google verwendet diese Nummer, um deine Organisation zu bestätigen.
• eine Telefonnummer und E‑Mail-Adresse für Google Play-Nutzer: Diese Informationen werden bei Google Play angezeigt, damit Nutzer dich kontaktieren können. Du musst die Angaben durch Erhalt eines Codes bestätigen.

Zur Vorbereitung auf diese Änderungen empfehlen wir, zu überprüfen, ob dein Dun & Bradstreet-Konto die aktuellen Informationen enthält.
Entwickler mit bestehenden Play Console-Konten müssen diese Informationen ebenfalls bald zur Verfügung stellen. Wir werden bestehende Entwickler rechtzeitig im Voraus darüber informieren, wenn ihre Konten bestätigt werden müssen, und senden im Laufe des Jahres ein Update zu diesen Anforderungen.
Weitere Informationen findest du in unserem Blog und in diesem PolicyBytes-Video. Du kannst dich auch für ein Webinar zu den Richtlinien anmelden. Diese sind für verschiedene Regionen verfügbar (weltweit, Indien, Japan, Korea, Südostasien oder Indonesien).

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As far as I know, you have to register with Dun & Bradstreet to get a so-called D-U-N-S number.
You also have to provide a telephone number and an e-mail address so that every customer can contact me.
The fact that every customer can contact me by e-mail is fine, but I don't agree at all with contacting me by phone.

What do you think about this?

Maybe you can use a google voice number instead of your real number so that calls won't interrupt you?

JohnC said:

Maybe you can use a google voice number instead of your real number so that calls won't interrupt you?

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What is a "google voice number" ?
I do not know this.

Google Voice:

After a little web search I know it too.

But it's still not a solution, because I don't want to get customer calls at all possible hours.

Filippo said:

After a little web search I know it too.

But it's still not a solution, because I don't want to get customer calls at all possible hours.

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You should be able to setup google voice so that it will just record a voice message from the caller and then send you an email notification about it WITHOUT ringing your phone.

And maybe you can set the "greeting message" to say something like "Thanks you for calling. This number is not monitored for support calls. Please instead email us at xxxx".

JohnC said:

And maybe you can set the "greeting message" to say something like "Thanks you for calling. This number is not monitored for support calls. Please instead email us at xxxx".

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That sounds good.

Just get a cheap mobile phone and sim, then just turn it off.

They say "developer account for an organization".
It's not clear if this applies to individuals also.

Star-Dust said:

I have already suspended my 42 Apps published on Google Play for a year because they no longer yielded enough and because the continuous changes and restrictions led me to important updates.
I think this decrees my definitive exit from Google. If it is the case I will publish in another platform or from my site.

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I have already had this thought, I have also already implemented everything that is necessary for this.
The problem is the users who are not able to install an app outside of Google Play.

Probably what they really mean

New requirements for developers regarding identification verification from August 31, 2023 3 Aug 2023

17:00
We want to increase trust and transparency on Google Play. Also reduce the number of people contacting us about problems with apps in the Play Store.
So we are going to publish your email and phone number so they can bother you directly, leaving us to enjoy peace and quiet, and be able to play games in the office.

Daestrum said:

17:00
We want to increase trust and transparency on Google Play. Also reduce the number of people contacting us about problems with apps in the Play Store.
So we are going to publish your email and phone number so they can bother you directly, leaving us to enjoy peace and quiet, and be able to play games in the office.

Click to expand...

and to earn much more money for doing simply nothing...


With which update in the last 2 years has Google really innovatively expanded the Android operating system? Not a single update even comes close to fulfilling this claim.
Whereas Google developers used to be innovative and incorporated new technologies into the operating system, they have now reached a dead end and are only trying to maximise profits without taking any risks. I fear that these developers will soon be replaced by AI. And then there will only be updates with new fancy colours, everything will turn around itself even faster and implode in the end.

Thinking too negatively? What used to be an innovative operating system, where, for example, you could find a certain setting option really quickly with a logical combination and also change it, will become an unmanageable conglomeration of cross-references and links. Important settings can be found somewhere where one would not expect them at all or not at all any more. The same applies in a similar way to Windows 11. Apparently, user ergonomics has become a foreign word for the developers these days...
Only the human mind can produce innovative solutions. AI will only be able to copy and make very good cross-connections for solutions. Nothing more. At least not in the foreseeable future.

Only ever new regulations for app developers as well as curtailment and restriction of established functions for alleged security reasons.
In this case, security does not mean the security of an individual user against the hacking of his or her mobile phone, but rather:
- Security that even the most absurd advertising really reaches the end customer.
- Security that the end user will have to buy a new device at ever faster intervals (preferably a Google device, of course).
- Security that more and more legal regulations are the responsibility of the programmer and not of Google.

I hope that many developers will finally boycott Google and no longer publish apps on Google Play. I've had enough of this theatre for a long time and only publish my apps via my website. You can't earn money with it. For me, programming has always been fun. But such coercive measures simply take the joy out of it for me. Why should I support such a company? And this will go on and on...

MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND...

When this giant company has running out of idea how to make the platform better, why not they try to make our life as developer easier and not the opposite?

I've never put anything on the Play Store and as time goes by it is even more certain that I never will. These identification requirements are clearly aimed at businesses who can have dedicated non-personal lines of customer communication and possibly even staff dedicated to customer service. Small scale developers cannot do this and despite all of Google statements about increasing security and privacy these requirements do exactly the opposite for individual developers. I have always loathed Google as a company and as time goes by my loathing merely increases. Regrettably if you want to use Android you get tied into the Google infrastructure which is entirely by design, and Microsoft is no better and in some cases worse.

I'm old and in despair about the lack of real choice for mobile development but at least I will die before it gets too much worse - which it will!

We all are beating the bush, I think.

Google has made Android and opened GPlay Store to make money, period. It does not care for Android or apps in there, but need to get commission and cuts from all of them.

All the courts around the world has woken up to all types of rubbish on the store and are pulling Google for it even penalizing it.

What should Google do ?
You get the answers if you think this part. It is now throwing app developers to the court to fend themselves.
They are clean as just aggregator without any guarantee or responsibility towards users of Store world wide.

Filippo said:

Hi,

in my Google Play console I have these New Requirements:

As far as I know, you have to register with Dun & Bradstreet to get a so-called D-U-N-S number.
You also have to provide a telephone number and an e-mail address so that every customer can contact me.
The fact that every customer can contact me by e-mail is fine, but I don't agree at all with contacting me by phone.

What do you think about this?

Click to expand...

Its to verify you are a real company. Its pretty normal. Apple do the same.

You could set up your account as "Developer account for personal use" instead of an organizational account.

This kind of account is NOT required to have a D-U-N-S number.

Also, your phone number will be known only to Google staff, it will NOT be shown in the Store.

See "Account details" in Play Console options.