Google Play Developer accounts are intended for developers who actively publish and maintain apps. Developer accounts that are inactive will be closed, and the registration fee will not be refunded.
When does a developer account become inactive?
There are two sets of criteria that determine whether a developer account is inactive or not.
An inactive developer account without apps
- The developer account was created more than a year ago.
- It has never submitted an app for review.
An inactive developer account with apps
- The developer account was created more than a year ago.
- All published apps (including live, removed and suspended apps) in the account have less than 1,000 combined lifetime installs.
- It has not verified their Play developer account phone number and contact email address.
- It has not used Play Console in the last 180 days.
What will happen when my developer account becomes inactive?
When a developer account meets either of the criteria above, it will be marked for closure due to inactivity. When this happens, an email will be sent to the account owner communicating that the developer account will soon be closed. This will also be clearly communicated in Play Console.
The email will indicate the steps that you can take to keep your developer account, and the date by which these steps should be completed. Failure to follow these steps will result in the permanent closure of your developer account, and the registration fee will not be refunded.
Reminder emails will be sent with 60, 30 and 7 days notice.
How can I prevent my developer account from being closed?
If you plan to publish or maintain apps in the future, prevent your account from being closed by completing both of the following tasks:
- Verify your contact details:
- Sign in to Play Console.
- Go to the Account details page (All apps > Account details) and complete the email and phone number verification.
- Click Save.
- Create and publish an app, or publish an update to an existing app on Google Play
- Sign in to Play Console.
- Create and set up your app if you haven't already.
- Note: If you’re not ready to make your app public, use Internal app sharing, Internal testing or Closed testing to safely upload your app without making it generally available.
- Upload a new app bundle or APK.
Note that your account can become dormant again, at which point you would receive a new notification.
Important: If you fail to complete both of the tasks above by the date specified in the email that we sent about account closure, the developer account will be permanently closed and your registration fee will not be refunded.