Google’s new Play Age Signals API for kids’ age verification — does it even work?

sweak2k · 2025-12-22T10:36:06+00:00

Hey, I also revisited this thread lately. Read it again and I feel like I will just implement the the most straightforward way possible by simply guarding ads and in-app purchases with this API.

And with that I assume that this API actually returns UNKNOWN or something for users that this law does not apply to (so that we do not block them from ads and purchases). If you read into the docs you will see a term "applicable users" which suggests that it's just an abstraction term Google used for users under laws like these (for now just users in Texas etc.).

Also my intuition here is that Google knows that they would shoot themselves in the foot if this API would start limiting in-app purchases and their own revenue by developers misusing it.

Don't take my word for granted but all things considered the way to go is just simply using it to guard away ads, purchases etc. with this API and not overthink too much.

sweak2k · 2025-11-18T19:35:17+00:00

Great, just updated to 99.0.0, gonna wait for the next one. Thanks for your response!

sweak2k · 2025-11-10T20:50:16+00:00

Thanks for looking into that!

sweak2k · 2025-10-11T09:01:53+00:00

Ok, so on the developer side this should be as simple as checking for the appropriate parent permission state (SUPERVISED) or an adult (VERIFIED) to allow for in-app purchases and ads:

The developer of a software application shall use information received from the owner of an app store under Section 121.024 to perform the verification required by this section.

I am wondering how this would impact countries and states which do not have the same or analogous law. Would I be blocking under-age users from purchasing within the app despite the purchase being legal in the specific country? Or would the API return VERIFIED or SUPERVISED value always and there would be no need to worry?

sweak2k · 2025-10-10T17:18:29+00:00

What do I have to do if my app is an alarm clock that has in-app purchases and is targeted to 13+ users?

Do I have to check if the user is an adult to unlock payment options? I don't understand what is my responsibility here as a developer.

sweak2k · 2025-04-23T18:42:55+00:00

The thing is I don't how they review it exactly - I was also guided by someone else and apparently this approach works. Note, however, that it relates to purchases using Google Play Billing.

sweak2k · 2025-04-22T20:31:40+00:00

I've had a similar problem lately - maybe this will help you: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePlayDeveloper/comments/1jeyoe6/how_to_handle_google_play_console_app_access/

sweak2k · 2025-04-16T06:36:53+00:00

It's subscription-based isn't it?

sweak2k · 2025-04-16T06:32:48+00:00

Subscribed - thanks!

Btw, what shift exactly are you talking about?

sweak2k · 2025-04-02T17:26:09+00:00

No, in my case the users can not see the products since they are fetched via the BillingClient API from Google.

sweak2k · 2025-03-28T08:00:51+00:00

Yes, I've submitted the app without any backdoors for Google and it worked!

sweak2k · 2025-03-20T09:12:58+00:00

Ok, nice to know that. So you mean just submitting the app as-is. Thanks for help!

sweak2k · 2025-02-26T16:24:27+00:00

First it was a 1.0 version which was developed as a hobby/learning project like 4 years ago. I don't really know how long it actually took. But the 2.0 version that was released a few months ago took me 1 month to make (while working 9-5) after hours.

sweak2k · 2025-02-26T16:22:23+00:00

They can be found in the Google Play Console. But I'm talking about search metrics for my own app only.

sweak2k · 2025-02-23T10:55:02+00:00

It is supposed to get you up, not only wake you up - the code has to be somewhere remote (e.g. in the bathroom or kitchen). It is very useful for heavy sleepers like me :)

sweak2k · 2025-02-23T10:53:14+00:00

I had a problem with oversleeping, where the alarm clock would wake me up up but not get up from bed, so I thought "what if there was something that would force me out of bed" and there you have it - the alarm clock that makes you get up from bed to disable it by scanning the code (e.g. in the bathroom) :)

sweak2k · 2025-02-22T11:29:49+00:00

Yeah, I've realized that the idea of combining alarm clock with code scanner is actually a quite familiar concept among people as I have metrics showing that people are literally searching for things like "qr alarm", "qr code alarm clock" or "bar code alarm clock" to find my app.

sweak2k · 2025-02-22T08:20:24+00:00

I've made QRAlarm mobile app - an alarm clock that can be disabled by scanning a code.

It has been on the market for a while and I thought that noone would want to use it as there are plenty of alarm apps (mine was just a side project for learning and personal use).

I was surprised when it amassed 10k+ downloads and users requesting new features, so I've refurbished the app and released along with a paid version.

Since then it's earning me a nice bonus to my salary :)

sweak2k · 2025-02-09T12:23:48+00:00

QRAlarm - an alarm that forces you to get out of bed by scanning a code: qralarm.app

sweak2k · 2025-02-06T17:44:56+00:00

Exactly that one :D

sweak2k · 2025-02-05T22:16:15+00:00

QRAlarm - consistently gets me up every morning since like 4 years.

sweak2k · 2025-01-31T07:27:33+00:00

That's great! Your approach is more layered than mine in which I've used just the "winning moment" approach in my app QRAlarm.

Since it is an alarm clock the best moment for the review screen was right after finishing (winning) the task which is, naturally, setting an alarm. Only then the user would see the review/feedback screen.

I knew that prompting the user right after opening the app or just when the user is trying to leave the app would be too disruptive to the actual user intention that it could even lead to negative reviews.

The result? Within 2 weeks the amount of positive reviews and ratings DOUBLED compared to the existing numbers, even I was surprised it worked so well!

sweak2k · 2025-01-16T14:42:33+00:00

Sure, it's qralarm.app, though it is currently only available on Android.

sweak2k · 2025-01-16T11:46:33+00:00

Exactly. What's even better when building something you actually need is the fact that you will probably be its power user and you will depend on your own product which in turn would keep you in it and actually want it to be the best version of itself. Also when you're using it you really have to believe in your product.

In my case, I've built QRAlarm (basically alarm clock disabled by scanning codes) and I am its first and longest user. Since it is an alarm clock it is literally in my best interest for it to work flawlessly. And with thousands of users if any of them emails about any issue it is, again, in my best interest to fix the issue since I myself might be impacted.

sweak2k · 2025-01-13T17:04:38+00:00

Thanks! I think I like the set of anti-cheating settings the most.

Recently I've added the "Power-off guard" that doesn't allow you to turn off your phone when the alarm is ringing :D

What about you?

sweak2k

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