Google Play will soon show users what apps are ad-supported before downloading as the company asks developers to declare the status of ads in their apps by January, 2016.
Google has started sending out the email below to developers asking them to declare whether or not their apps display ads through the Play Developer Console. The company is going to require the declaration by January 11, 2016, after which apps won’t be able to issue updates before submitting the information.
While its asking developers to mark their apps properly, Google notes that it could independently verify whether apps have ads and add the new “Ads” label itself.
When Google launched Designed for Families last year, an opt-in service for developers that allows them to mark their apps as family friendly and get promotion in relevant categories on the Google Play storefront, it started including an “ad-supported” label on the apps. The upcoming update, however, will extend that initiative to all Google Play app download pages with a new “Ads” label.
There is more on the ads label on a support page on Google’s website where it clarifies that the label “isn’t meant to cover whether an app contains other kinds of commercial content, like paid product placement or offers to make in-app purchases or upgrades.”
Google says users will begin to see the “Ads” label on app download pages in Google Play starting early next year. Developers will find the option in the Developer Console under the Pricing & Distribution section.
The full email Google is sending out to developers is below:
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