Google launching new rules to improve app quality on Play Store

In a fresh bid to sanitise its Play Store, Google has announced new policies and guidelines to improve app quality and discovery for users.

The company said that app title, icon and developer name that do not meet the upcoming policies will not be allowed on Google Play.

The new set of policies include limiting the length of app titles to 30 characters, prohibiting keywords that imply store performance, promotion in the icon, title and developer name and eliminating graphic elements that may mislead users in the app icon.

More details about this policy change, including enforcement start dates, will arrive later this year.

"Since your app title, icon, and developer name are the most important discovery elements on your store listing page, we are preparing to launch a new set of policies to keep these elements recognizable and unique," Google said in an update late on Friday.

When Google Play launched in 2008, it was easy for developers to get noticed with only a few hundred apps and games live on the Play Store.

There are now millions of apps and games available to audiences in over 190 countries.

"The unique assets you provide to the Store – images, video, descriptions, even your app name itself – are essential to users making a decision on what to download," said Google.

"We recommend reviewing the examples of do and don't below and thinking about how these changes may impact you, so you can get ready for the upcoming policy changes," the company informed.