I created an account in 2019. I studied Android development and published various applications. Then I hid all applications (cannot be deleted). In 2023, he began making watch faces and selling them on GooglePlay. The old applications remained hidden and I had no intention of continuing to work with them. On June 1, 2024 my account was deleted. Explained (deceptive actions). The appeal was answered in kind (do not try to register a new account, we will delete it too). That’s all! My brand name is AlexBurrStudio, email account diletanto.ru@gmail.com
@Yuan25 did you get your account back?
1 Like
Yes, I got it back. I wrote a little above
Yep I know 
I pinged @Yuan25
Oh ok, sorry 
What’s up @Yuan25 . Did you get it back?
1 Like
NO. Not yet.
I try 3 times. 3 times also I think is bot reply me with same standard reply.
First and second time appeal, I did not do more investigation.
Third time. I submit all detail investigation what I found and how to prevent in future.
But sadly. Same standard reply, same as the first email they reply me.
For me, yes. My app detect trojan by Ikarus(Result from virusTotal)
MY WF app contain 2 files
Wear OS .aab - no issue
Companion .aab - detect trojan
This companion .aab build by Android studio JellyFish.
I build an empty activity project with Jelly Fish, no include any library - detect trojan by goole Ikarus
empty app with Koala Beta - no issue
Empty app with Koala - no issue(I just install today)
I scan run my whole system with Bitdefender, CleanMyMacX - no issue.
Only Ikarus, scan the empty app file build by JellyFish detect trojan, but not other antivirus software.
I believe it is falsePositive.
Everytime I send the email, only bot reply me, no human(I guess).
Updated:
I sent my companion app .aab file to Ikarus. They confirm it is False-Positive.
From Ikarus reply email:
" false-positive******"
" This false positive was removed and should not occur any more after our next database update."
I reply the Google appeal email with this new information and request re-evaluation of my case.
Fail again. : (
ps: I am so sorry for my poor English here. When I reply with google appeal letter, I spend very long time and write in better way, correct grammar and more professional with Gemini help.
1 Like
@Dadam it is good that you have account back, I hope that other users will manage to recover it too.
Support
1 Like
Dear Jakia,
The developer of Cosmic Brainstorm contacted me; his account was also blocked.
Information about the application package and reasons:
Developer name Cosmic Brainstorm
Package name: - com.watchfacestudio.cb16
Version - WatchFaceStudio - 1.6.9
Reason given by Google:
Issue found: High Risk Behavior
We have identified a pattern of high risk or abuse associated with your Developer Account and are taking this action pursuant to the Policy Coverage policy.
There were no application withdrawals. The account was immediately closed
Please help. Thanks in advance!
Hello to the developers at Samsung.
My google play console account has been terminated without notice, citing “High Risk Behavior”. I appealed once and the appeal got rejected.
I replied to their decision to kindly re-investigate, and to consider removing the app in violation and let me use my account for the other apps.
But they just replied saying they found evidence of high risk behavior, and they cannot reinstate my account.
It feels very unfair that I don’t even know what I did wrong, but I’m being punished for something.
I’ve thought about it, and these are the possible causes:
- I made a watch face and named it “Red Bull Hybrid Watch Face”, with the package name com.watchfacestudio.redbullracing. During closed testing, someone pointed out that this could lead to copyright infringement claims, so I removed the Red Bull logo from the watch face, and I renamed my app to “RBR Hybrid Watch Face”. Since atleast one version of this app contained third party intellectual property, it could have resulted in the ban. However, I don’t understand this because it was thoroughly reviewed and granted production access. It was in production for atleast 2 weeks.
- I connected my phone to my office network. My office network defaults to a VPN, so me opening the play console in my office network could be seen as high risk behavior.
- I spammed reddit with links to my app in production, in an attempt to promote it. But I’ve seen others do the same, so I’m not sure if this could be the reason.
- I named some of my elements like watch hands “Omega” and “Tudor” in the customization menu. Maybe this could have triggered some violation of third party IP?
- Among 20 testers, my watch is always the 1st one. I also make sure to add a review from my 2nd account to my app. Could this be seen as high risk behavior?
This is all I can think of that could be seen as high risk behavior - using third party IP, connecting to VPN, and leaving reviews for my own app.
Can you please help me find some answers? The people at google are refusing to tell me the reason saying the information can be used by bad actors to circumvent their filters and allow others to “game their systems”.
I don’t think you can get banned for copyright infringement but that’s just my opinion. Google Play is loaded with Tag, Rolex, Breitling, etc. faces. I think I even saw a Rolex face in The top 200. Anyway, as far as I know the only way to get faces “removed” is if the owner of the intellectual property lodges a complaint which looks like has never happened as people continue to try to sell these replica faces on Google Play. Even if you get a DMCA takedown order, I wonder if that’s enough to terminate your account?
Here’s the current number 1 paid watch face on Google - what a joke as all of us have to jump through endless hoops to operate on Google Play
They even named it TAG CARRERA.
I know right? When I made the Red Bull watch face, that’s what I had in mind. But I made heavy modifications to the watch face anyway, just to be on the safer side.
I’m really clueless as to what happened and why I got banned.
They mentioned prior violations, which doesn’t make sense because this is my 1st developer account, and I started making watch faces only since June of this year. I don’t know anyone online or otherwise who even has a developer account or got banned.
There has been a jump in terminated accounts as of late which is why the topic was created in the first place. Some have managed to appeal even after they were told by Google they would not be re-instated and have gotten their accounts back so it’s not over for you yet perhaps. If you do get your account back, I would still refrain from using any copyrighted material period. It just doesn’t seem worth it to me to potentially have global conglomerates like LVMH sue me for copyright infringement and intellectual property theft. It’s low hanging fruit that anyone with half a brain can make and try to sell here but I think most choose not to because they have a sense of morality and respect intellectual property.
2 Likes
I know, I’m never gonna risk it again. I actually removed any references to Red Bull like removed the logo, changed the app name, description, etc. before applying for production. It was in production for 2 weeks. I even updated it once in production, and it passed the review.
So I don’t think that was why I got banned. There must be something in google’s detection systems that is telling them that I got a prior violation, or that I have associated with someone with a prior violation.
This is what a well known developer said in this very thread about VPN.
1 Like
I don’t know if I did that though. I connected to my work profile, which is a VPN, but my organization ensured me that only my work apps will connect to the VPN and not my personal apps.
What I can think of is that when I’m physically in my office, my phone connects to the office wifi. And I think my office wifi routes traffic to a VPN in the EMEA region, but I’m not sure.
So it might be a reason. Is it such a strong reason that they cannot give a warning and let me continue? I don’t think so.
@pranavkoustubh Did you use companion apps for your watch faces?
I did, yes. Is that a factor?
Afaik companion app is one of the common denominators between all the Google Play Console developer accounts terminated. You can read more about these speculations in this thread actually.
My account was terminated a week ago (on September 20, 2024). I tried to appeal twice without success. I offered Google to stop using companion apps at all, however also without success (my last watch faces have been published only as Wear OS apps).
Is there any way to find out (approximately) what is wrong with publishing watch faces to stay safe as a watch face developer. Could you please help us @Jakia.Sultana? Even if my account (ID 5346671198988998632) can’t be reinstate, this information may be valuable for other designers and for customers at the end of the day. Thank you.
Would be really Great if samsung team or merchandansing team should tell us what caused those account termination, as from their respond human can not understand!