Warnings Your Apk Is Using Permissions That Require A Privacy Policy android permission READ PHONE STATE

Question

In manifest not added android permission READ PHONE STATE  permission  Why error comes when I upload a new apk version error comes below  Your app has an apk with version code 1 that requests the following permission s   android permission READ PHONE STATE  Apps using these permissions in an APK are required to have a privacy policy set  I have attached a screenshot of my google play store account   my manifest file   lt  xml version  quot 1 0 quot  encoding  quot utf-8 quot   gt   lt manifest xmlns android  quot http   schemas android com apk res android quot      package  quot com my package name quot  gt        lt uses-permission android name  quot android permission INTERNET quot    gt        lt application         android name  quot  utils PreferenceManager quot          android allowBackup  quot true quot          android icon  quot  mipmap ic launcher quot          android label  quot  string app name quot          android largeHeap  quot true quot          android supportsRtl  quot true quot          android theme  quot  style AppTheme quot  gt           lt activity             android name  quot  SplashScreen quot              android screenOrientation  quot portrait quot  gt               lt intent-filter gt                   lt action android name  quot android intent action MAIN quot    gt                    lt category android name  quot android intent category LAUNCHER quot    gt               lt  intent-filter gt           lt  activity gt            lt activity             android name  quot  MainActivity quot              android screenOrientation  quot portrait quot    gt            lt activity             android name  quot  CategoryListActivity quot              android screenOrientation  quot portrait quot    gt           lt activity             android name  quot  ImagesActivity quot              android screenOrientation  quot portrait quot    gt        lt  application gt    lt  manifest gt

User · Answer

If you read the message carefully you will see that you are using the permissions like camera, Microphone, Contacts, Storage and Phone, etc. and you don't supply a privacy policy. you need to supply a privacy policy if you do that. you can find more information about the android privacy policy on google

To Add Privacy Policy In-Play Console,

Find and select All Apps.
Select the application you need to add your Privacy Policy to.
Find the Policy at the end of the page.
Click App content to edit the listing for your app.
Find the field labeled Privacy Policy and place the URL of the page of your Privacy Policy
Click Save and you are good to go.

Note: You need to have a public web page to host your Privacy Policy. Google Play Store won't host the policy for you.

User · Answer

See steb by step and you will understood  public static String getVideoTitle String youtubeVideoUrl            Log e youtubeVideoUrl toString       In GetVideoTitle Menu  toString     hiii             try                if  youtubeVideoUrl    null                    URL embededURL   new URL  https   www youtube com oembed url                             youtubeVideoUrl     amp format json                                     Log e youtubeVideoUrl toString       In EmbedJson Try Function   toString     hiii                     Log e embededURL toString       In EmbedJson Retrn value   toString     hiii                     Log e new JSONObject IOUtils toString embededURL   getString  provider name   toString       In EmbedJson Retrn value   toString     hiii                      return new JSONObject IOUtils toString embededURL   getString  provider name   toString                            catch  Exception e                Log e   In catch Function   toString     hiii                  e printStackTrace                      return null

User · Answer

Are you using AdSense or other ads in your app  or maybe Google Analytics   I think if you do so  even if you don t have the android permission READ PHONE STATE in your manifest this is added by the ads library   There are free templates that might help you create a privacy policy   This is the email i received from Google about it       Hello Google Play Developer  Our records show that your app  xxx  with   package name xxx  currently violates our User Data policy regarding   Personal and Sensitive Information  Policy issue  Google Play requires   developers to provide a valid privacy policy when the app requests or   handles sensitive user or device information  Your app requests   sensitive permissions  e g  camera  microphone  accounts  contacts  or   phone  or user data  but does not include a valid privacy policy    Action required  Include a link to a valid privacy policy on your   app s Store Listing page and within your app  You can find more   information in our help center  Alternatively  you may opt-out of this   requirement by removing any requests for sensitive permissions or user   data  If you have additional apps in your catalog  please make sure   they are compliant with our Prominent Disclosure requirements  Please   resolve this issue by March 15  2017  or administrative action will be   taken to limit the visibility of your app  up to and including removal   from the Play Store  Thanks for helping us provide a clear and   transparent experience for Google Play users  Regards  The Google Play   Team

User · Answer

Just try to add this line to your manifest file    lt uses-permission android name  android permission READ PHONE STATE  tools node  remove    gt    and add attribute xmlns tools  http   schemas android com tools  to your  lt manifest gt  tag to define namespace tools  From the documentation for tools node  remove       Remove this element from the merged manifest  Although it seems like you should instead just delete this element  using this is necessary when you discover an element in your merged manifest that you don t need  and it was provided by a lower-priority manifest file that s out of your control  such as an imported library

User · Answer

You should drop android permission READ PHONE STATE permission  Add this to your manifest file    lt uses-permission     android name  android permission READ PHONE STATE      tools node  remove    gt

User · Answer

you need to specify the min and target sdk version in the manifest file  If not the android permission READ PHONE STATE will be added automaticly while exporting your apk file    lt uses-sdk         android minSdkVersion  9          android targetSdkVersion  19    gt

User · Answer

The dependencies you have in your project  will add their own permissions   Please do the below to find from where  READ PHONE STATE  is coming    Rebuild your android application Press  Ctrl Shift F  in android studio  basically do a search all in the editor of your preference   Search for  READ PHONE STATE   you would find the entry in a regenerated manifest file  not the one you originally created   By the path of it you can know  from which dependency the permission is getting added

User · Answer

If you re testing your app on a device   android 6 0 you have also to explicitely ask the user to grant the permission   As you can see here READ PHONE STATE have a dangerous level   If a permission have a dangerous level then the user have to accept or not this permission manually  You don t have the choice  you MUST do this   To do this from your activity execute the following code     if the user use Android M and didn t grant the permission yet it will ask for it   public static final int READ PHONE STATE PERMISSION   100     if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt  Build VERSION CODES M  amp  amp  checkSelfPermission Manifest permission READ PHONE STATE                     PackageManager PERMISSION GRANTED                requestPermissions new String   Manifest permission READ PHONE STATE   READ PHONE STATE PERMISSION               then override onRequestPermissionsResult in your activity    Override     public void onRequestPermissionsResult int requestCode   NonNull String   permissions   NonNull int   grantResults            switch  requestCode               case READ PHONE STATE PERMISSION                    if  grantResults 0     PackageManager PERMISSION GRANTED                         Permission granted do what you want from this point                  else                         Permission denied  manage this usecase                                                   You should read this article to know more about it

User · Answer

I found this free website that will make for you the policy AND host it   https   www freeprivacypolicy com   Then add it to the play store under Store Listing - at the bottom add the public link for the policy that you got from https   www freeprivacypolicy com

User · Answer

Your app s manifest xml having these permission to access information from your s device but you don t have privacy policy link while submitting on the play store  so you getting this warning   Need privacy policy for the app If your app handles personal or sensitive user data  Adding a privacy policy to your app s store listing helps provide transparency about how you treat sensitive user and device data         Update The privacy policy setting in Google Play Console has changed locations   In Google Play Console  Select Store presence   App content  Under  Privacy Policy

User · Answer

2018 update   For AdMob users  this causes AdMob version 12 0 0  currently last version   It wrongly requests READ PHONE STATE permission  so even if your app doesn t require READ PHONE STATE permission in manifest  you won t be able to update your app in the Google Play Console  it will tell you to create a privacy policy page for your app  because your app requires this permission     See this  https   developers google com android guides releases march 20 2018 - version 1200  Also  they wrote they will publish an update to 12 0 1 fixing this soon

User · Answer

Probably you re using PlayServices of version 9 6 0  Then you should update it  it s library s bug  More info here    OR   Add   lt uses-permission     android name  android permission READ PHONE STATE      tools node  remove    gt    to your manifest file

User · Answer

Currently some people are facing the same issue because of using 12 0 0 version of AdMob lib    Update it to 12 0 1  This should fix it  You can read more here

User · Answer

It can be that you need to add or update your privacy policy  You can easily create a privacy policy using this template  https   app-privacy-policy-generator firebaseapp com

User · Answer

It s third party library  You can find the culprit in build outputs logs manifest-merger-release-report txt

User · Answer

It may be because of any third party lib which may include that permission so from my experience in this field You have to add the privacy policy regarding to that particular information it means if you ask get accounts permission in your app than you have to declare that with your privacy policy file we use that data i e  email address or whatever with reasons like to login in google play game   Also can do this    lt uses-permission android name  android permission READ PHONE STATE  tools node  remove    gt    Hope This Will Guide you What You can do for this warning create privacy policy for your app and attach that with store listing

User · Answer

1 You need to create privacy policy page on your website and update your privacy policy for the permissions you are asking   2 Update new SDK remove unwanted permissions and resubmit the app

User · Answer

If you use React Native  This problem has been completely solved here  https   facebook github io react-native docs removing-default-permissions

User · Answer

I was facing same issue and got the error while uploading apk to Google play  I used ads in my app  and I was not even mentioned READ PHONE STATE permission in my manifest file  but yet I got this error  Then I change dependencies for ads in build gradle file  and then it solved my issue  They solved this issue in 12 0 1   compile  com google android gms play-services-ads 12 0 1

User · Answer

If you are using the package device id to get the unique device id then that will add an android permission READ PHONE STATE without your knowledge which eventually will lead to the Play Store warning  Instead you can use the device info package for the same purpose without the need of the extra permission  Check this SO thread

[android] Warnings Your Apk Is Using Permissions That Require A Privacy Policy: (android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE)

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