Ads in apps aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but when they invade portions of the phone you can’t avoid or constantly have to interact with, that can cross a line. Lockscreen ads have shown up quite frequently in apps on the Play Store, but that’s no more, thanks to a policy change by Google.
First spotted by Android Police, Google has decided to ban apps, not that simply include ads on the lockscreen, but rather those which add monetization methods after they’ve already been in the Play Store for some time, unless that is the sole purpose of the app.
Unless the exclusive purpose of the app is that of a lockscreen, apps may not introduce ads or features that monetize the locked display of a device.
We’ve seen examples of this sort of practice before, one notable example being ES File Explorer, which added sketchy lockscreen ads once in the past.
This new policy makes a lot of sense, as many solely find it annoying to have lockscreen ads show up from an app they weren’t expecting them to come from, but those using a dedicated lockscreen application probably have a general idea of what they’re getting themselves into.
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