Google Play tightens SMS/Call Log permission rules and clarifies unrated-app policy

Google Play's July 15 policy update narrows what counts as an approved use case for the SMS and Call Log Permissions policy. Verifying a user's account by placing an automated phone call is no longer accepted; Google is pointing developers toward the Digital Credentials API or the SMS Retriever API instead, both of which don't require the broad permission grant a manual SMS/Call Log declaration does.

The same announcement clarifies something that had been ambiguous for some developers: Google Play does not allow unrated apps. If your listing somehow lacks a content rating, that's a policy violation, not an oversight Google will quietly tolerate.

There's also a hard compliance date attached, separate from the permissions change: every app must meet the current target API level requirement by August 31, 2026. Apps that miss it risk losing visibility to new users or, eventually, removal from the store. This is an annual deadline in substance if not always in exact date, and it's the kind of thing that's easy to let slide until it's urgent — worth putting on a calendar now rather than finding out in late August that a build needs a target SDK bump before it can ship.

For teams using SMS or Call Log permissions for verification specifically, the practical task is concrete: audit whether that's the actual justification on file, and if so, plan the migration to one of the two suggested APIs before the next policy enforcement pass, not after a rejection.