Google is cracking down on apps that push ads to the Android lock screen

As part of its effort to crack down on bad apps on the Play Store, Google has announced this week that it will be booting any applications that display advertisements on the Android lock screen. Starting from this week, the Google Play Developer Policy will have stricter guidelines when it comes to ‘Lockscreen Monetization'.

The new policy means that developers are no longer allowed to display ads on the Android lock screen, unless the app is explicitly a lock screen application. Here is the exact wording from Google: “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”.

Google also has policies in place regarding ‘deceptive ads', stating that no advertisements should mimic an app's user interface, or the Android notification system. There are also guidelines in place for avoiding disruptive ads, stating that “ads should not be shown in a way that results in inadvertent clicks”, or forces a user to click.

Finally, Google also states that no advertisements should interfere with other apps or device functionality. At the moment, there is no deadline for when developers need to comply with these changes, but hopefully the company stays on top of it. There are a lot of poor apps to be found on the Play Store, so some routine clean-ups are necessary.

KitGuru Says: Do many of you encounter issues with ads popping up from apps downloaded from the Play Store? In my case, if I encounter some form of annoying monetization, I will usually just delete the app straight away.

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