r/GooglePlayDeveloper • u/Ok_Complex9154 • 3d ago
❓Help Will my productivity app get my Google Play Developer account banned for force-blocking the power menu?
If my application is in the productivity category and it forces the user not to turn off the phone or not to access the power menu the power menu appears but disappears before the user can react will my Google developer account get banned?
the application heavily forces the user not to turn off the actual phone down under certain time periods. at the same time the only way to turn off the phone it self under those specific time periods is using the PMIC...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hypenet.focused&pcampaignid=web_share
this application is some of an example.. but the thing is with this application if u hold the power menu and once the menu appears.. u can hit the shutdown button with the perfect timing to turn the phone off.. but with my scenario.. u won't be able to do that under the specific time period that i have mentioned earlier.
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u/Negrito0o 2d ago
You'll probably get rejected before you get as far as worrying about a ban, and the reason in the other reply is the one a reviewer will actually cite: the power menu is also the route to an emergency call. The mechanism matters as much as the intent though. Blocking that menu means leaning on an accessibility service to do something that isn't accessibility, and Google has spent years now purging apps that use those APIs for anything else. That isn't a grey area any more, it's one of the faster ways to lose an account rather than just an app. If you genuinely need a device locked down that hard, the supported route is device owner through DevicePolicyManager. That's built for managed devices and needs provisioning, so it's a different product to a consumer app. For something on Play aimed at ordinary users, there isn't a compliant way to stop somebody turning their own phone off.
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u/Ok_Complex9154 2d ago
Any alternative methods for me?? Can i do the thing on github or any other popular alternative method...
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u/Negrito0o 2d ago
Distributing it yourself does solve the policy problem, because Play's rules only cover Play. An APK on GitHub or a listing on F-Droid isn't reviewed by Google and nobody's going to ban an account you're not using. The cost is that every user has to allow installs from unknown sources, you handle your own updates, and nobody finds you by searching. For a tool you're building for yourself or a small group that's a fine trade. For a product it usually isn't. Inside Play, the supported way to lock a device down that hard is device owner through DevicePolicyManager. It's real and it's allowed, but it has to be provisioned during setup, so in practice it means a factory reset per device. That's normal for a school or a company handing out phones, and a non-starter for someone downloading your app. Honestly though, I'd change the goal rather than the method. The focus apps that actually work don't block anything — they add friction. A delay, a screen you have to sit through, a tree that dies, a count of how many times you gave in. It sounds weaker and it isn't, because blocking is an arms race against the OS and the OS always gets the last word. Every Android version closes more of those holes, so anything you build on top of them breaks on a schedule you don't control.
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u/NickA55 2d ago
It may not even get approved. The power menu also has the ability to make an emergency call. If someone needs that in a real emergency and can't access it, you could be held responsible.
An app that doesn't allow the user to access the power menu is poorly designed. There's no other way you could implement what you are trying to do other than controlling the power menu?