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androidgoogle-playapkandroid-permissions

Google Play prevents publishing updated APK and forces declaring unused permission

I'm unable to publish an APK update: Google Play says the app does not respect the permission rules.

Also, in the permission declaration form, it forces to check at least one SMS or CALL LOG related permission, even though the app does not request any SMS or CALL LOG related permission. It's been removed from the manifest several APK ago.

How to fix this problem ?

Solution

  • The problem comes from having other active APKs using SMS or CALL LOG related permissions in other release tracks such as Internal Testing, Alpha, Beta

    To solve the issue, you need to get rid of all the old artifacts and replace them with your new build in all the release tracks (Internal Testing, Alpha, Beta, Production), even if you won’t end up using these release tracks.

    You can see all your active APKs across all release tracks in Google Play's console from the Artefact Library menu:

    enter image description here

    You can find more infos about the solution here: https://proandroiddev.com/dear-googles-permissions-declaration-form-can-we-break-up-85bc6b62f690

    Thanks a lot to @BapusahebPatil for this article

    EDIT: There is an open issue related to this on Google issue tracker: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/117486314