We (software agency) had the same problem, a simple app with just basic Google libraries was violating their own privacy rules.
Re:Why I’m done with Chrome
by the_new_guy_29 on Monday September 24, 2018 @03:31AM
(#18055699)
Any examples of those rules and how they were violated?
Im just curious
Some more details - https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/9gqr6y/anybody_....
The emails from Google Play are never very specific so you can only guess what's wrong :-).
You should appeal if what you're saying is indeed true. You're supposed to use advertising ID for any ad-related tracking - if you use something more sensitive instead (like IMEI) then you'll get taken down.
GDPR issue?
> Collecting information that most people probably don't care about
I care about that information and I’m glad they removed your apps, maybe now you’ll start taking privacy more seriously.
I think you misunderstood my comment. I don't want to collect that information. All I need is anonymous crash stacks and possibly some general statistics (number of users on various app versions and Android versions). Google was collecting extra information without me even being aware of it, until they removed my apps for the store. I want to collect as minimum information as possible for me to effectively maintain the apps. I have no use for personal information or any identifiers. But Google probably wants it and that's why Firebase collects it by default.
> Google was collecting extra information without me even being aware of it
I think the point is that you should be aware of it. It is your application after all. Yes, what Google does is weird, but the app developer needs to be more careful in general what 3rd party code they load.
On the other hand, I understand you. Probably you do your due diligence when you load some random dependency but you (like everyone else) used to expect better from Google. Not anymore I guess.
I mean, if you use a google library that uses a specific google feature, it’s kind of fair to assume that it’s not a violation of their privacy policy.
You don't get to act clueless if one of the libraries that you added to your application collects data without asking the user. I already said what Google does is weird.
[1] https://firebase.google.com/support/guides/disable-analytics