Google Starts Banning Apps With Lock Screen Ads

Seeing ads in mobile apps and games is very common. In-app ads are among one of the most effective forms of advertising these days and many companies are flocking towards making effective use of these ads. However, even in-app ads need to be appropriate and applications cannot start showing ads outside the app. Google has now started banning Android apps which show lock screen ads.

Many apps are making use of ads which begin to appear on your lock screen. This is not limited to random, shady apps, but also to some major names such as Hotspot Shield VPN, ES File Explorer among others.

Image: Android Police

Google Play Store has updated their policy section include this new rule:

Lockscreen Monetization: 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.

Technically, this means that an application which calls itself a VPN, a File Explorer or a game – or basically anything but an app specifically built to customize or redesign the lock-screen cannot show lock screen ads. However, this does leave one exception – apps which are specifically built for lock screen modifications can display lock screen ads.

However, this is a welcome change – as unsuspecting users won’t be bombarded by ads on their lockscreen by apps which are not supposed to do that in the first place. This was a long overdue feature but it is finally here – effectively putting an end to a majority of lock screen ads.

The timing too, is appreciated because it felt like the lock screen ads were an epidemic suddenly expanding over the last few months. Many users who aren’t as tech savvy had a hard time even figuring out which apps were displaying these ads. With Google starting to ban these apps from the Google Play Store – time’s up for these lock screen ads.

Source: Android Police

The post Google Starts Banning Apps With Lock Screen Ads appeared first on Google Tricks Blog.

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