Sorry guys, there hasnt been an update for a while. Was super busy recently (flew to Japan, had to deal with some private stuff) and Google Play started to fuck around again.
Out of nowhere, Google Play suddenly started reviewing three of my apps. One app is still in review. Two apps have been suspended. One of the suspended ones is still in appeal.
Here is what happened:
Suddenly, one malicious reviewer targeted my apps. What did he do? Upload photos of woman and write prompts like "remove her clothes", "make her naked". So this guy tried to generate adult content with my app in order to get my app suspended.
It didnt work initially. But this guy used very tricky prompts like "make it more spicy" or other weird descriptions.
I am not kidding you guys, this guy tried it for 119 (!!!!) times. He spent hours to generate any adult image. 95% of the requests were rejected. 5% was allowed, but didnt deliver any adult image. It was literally just one image he could generate and then he used this image to suspend my app immediately.
How do I know all the details? Because I track EVERYTHING in the backend. Every user. Every user generation. Every prompts they use.
So this guy suspended the app with the reason:
During our review, we found that your app violates the Sexual Content and Profanity and AI-Generated Content policies. Apps that generate content using AI must comply with existing Google Play Developer policies, including by prohibiting and preventing the generation of Restricted Content. For example, Your app contains depictions, animations or illustrations of sex acts, or sexual nudity, or sexually suggestive poses in which the subject is nude, blurred or minimally clothed, and/or where the clothing would not be acceptable in an appropriate public context.
What happened after suspension?
I made a few additional safety layers. Now gpt 5 evaluates the prompt before generation. Also, gpt 5 evaluates the output. Also, since I use Google Nano Banana 2 for image generation, it uses their own content safety moderation as well. This should all be bulletproof and it should not be possible to generate ANY kind of adult content. Not even a woman in a bikini.
So I sent the app for appeal and thought to myself: "well, they must accept the appeal since its basically imposible to generate this kinda content"
now here is the thing: these people REJECTED the appeal and as evidence they provided an image that has been generated from the initial suspension. They basically said "your app STILL contains adult content" and provided an old image. Since I can see everything in the backend, I immediately went to take a look and what happened? This reviewer did NOT try to generate an image even once. LOL.
Basically just hit the reject button and used an old image for evidence.
Absolute fucking cinema.
I replied to the appeal, told them its basically impossible to generate such content and the image provided was old. Told them I saw in the backend there was no new attempt from them to create an image.
Guess what? Immediately rejected. Just said "sorry, our review is done. we wont reply again. there wont be further communication for this".
This is the shit I had to deal with for years and the reason why this thread has 101 pages. You can NOT build a serious business with them. They will always throw you back to 0. You have an app making you $10k, ok, enjoy it as much as you can, because you have to expect they will come for you and suspend it out of nowhere.
Ironic: I created the exact same image the reviewer did with the Gemini app. Made a screenshot and sent it to this reviewer. Told him to review the Google Gemini app as well, since it also generate this kinda images.
So whats the lesson here?
Google proved to me ONCE AGAIN they can and will do whatever the fuck they want. They target you, you lose. Making 119 (!) attempts to generate any kinda adult content and use manipulative prompts is not normal. Its not a normal review. A normal review would be to make a couple of attempts and just let it be.
But this guy forcefully wanted to find a reason. He kept going. He didnt stop until he got what he wanted. And when he got it, he immediately used it as a reason to suspend the app.
So whats the deal with Google and whats my recommendation?
If you are building your app with Flutter, also go for Google Play. But do not have any expectations. The revenue through Google Play is much less than for Apple App Store. Google Play review, like in this case, is also way more unreliable. These people come, put a target on your breast and just end you.
My Google Play Developer account is still live, but I expect it to get terminated probably within this month or next month. Why? Because it seems this is what they want to achieve. They want to suspend a couple of apps, then say my account is against the ToS. All fabricated, all absolute bullshit.
As I mentioned in the very beginning: Two apps suspended (one still in appeal), another app live but also in review.
I expect the worst and I will keep you updated.
