Your Google Play Developer Account Could Get Your App Deleted

There is a policy sitting inside your Google Play Developer account right now that could get your church app removed from the store. And there is a very good chance nobody on your staff knows about it.

Google requires every app in the Play Store to have a valid data deletion policy URL. This is not optional. This is not a suggestion. If your developer account does not have a compliant data deletion mechanism, Google can and will remove your app. They have been enforcing this aggressively since late 2023, and churches are some of the most common organizations caught off guard.

What Google Requires

Every app must provide users with a way to request deletion of their data. This means your developer account needs a publicly accessible URL that explains how users can request data deletion, what data will be deleted, and how long the process takes.

For Subsplash apps, this typically means linking to a data deletion page on your church website or to a Subsplash-provided policy URL. But here is the catch. Subsplash cannot set this up for you. It lives in your Google Play Developer Console under your account. Your church owns the account. Your church is responsible for compliance.

The Apple Side

Apple has its own version of this. Apple developer accounts require annual renewal at $99 per year. If that renewal lapses, your app is removed from the App Store. No warning. No grace period that you can count on. It just disappears.

I have seen churches lose their app for months because the credit card on file expired and nobody noticed the renewal email. By the time someone realizes the app is gone, the congregation has moved on to other tools. Rebuilding that trust and re-driving downloads is significantly harder than maintaining the account in the first place.

What Happens When Your Account Lapses

If your Google developer account is non-compliant or your Apple developer account lapses, your app disappears from the store. Existing users may still have it installed, but they will not receive updates. Push notifications will eventually stop working as certificates expire. New people cannot find or download it.

And here is the part that frustrates churches the most. Subsplash cannot fix this. They do not own your developer accounts. They cannot log in for you. They cannot accept terms on your behalf. They cannot update your payment method. This is entirely your church's responsibility.

What to Check Right Now

Log into your Google Play Developer Console. Go to App content and verify that your data deletion policy URL is set and pointing to a live page. If it is blank or pointing to a broken link, fix it immediately.

Log into your Apple Developer account. Check your membership expiration date. Check that the credit card on file is current. Accept any pending terms or agreements.

Check your Subsplash dashboard under Settings, then Developer Accounts. Verify that both accounts show as connected and healthy.

Make This a Governance Item

This should not be something your church checks when something breaks. It should be a recurring calendar item. Twice a year, someone on your team logs into both accounts, verifies compliance, accepts any new terms, confirms billing, and requests an app update through Subsplash.

I recommend tying it to two dates that are easy to remember. Do it when you change your clocks. Spring forward, check your developer accounts. Fall back, check your developer accounts. Simple. Predictable. And it prevents the kind of silent failure that takes your app offline for weeks before anyone notices.

The Bigger Picture

Your app is not just a tool. It is infrastructure. It is where your congregation gets updates, registers for events, gives, watches sermons, and connects with community. When that infrastructure goes offline because of an expired account or a missing policy URL, the impact is not theoretical. People miss information. Trust erodes. And your team spends weeks recovering instead of serving.

Developer account health is not a technical task. It is a leadership responsibility. Treat it like one.