Background location

Google announced a background permissions policy a few months ago, for which any application that requests geolocation in the background must meet certain requirements in the Google Play Store before being approved.

This is mainly needed for delivery or taxi applications that have used this service to be able to track the driver in the background while making deliveries.

When you enter your Google Play console you will see the following message that part of the information in your app is incomplete:

You must go to Content of your app and later in the section called Sensitive permissions of the app you must click on start

This will take you to the Permissions Declaration Form where you must click on start:

You must indicate that your application does use background tracking and complete the questions indicating the purpose of the app and why it uses location in the background:

Here is an example of the responses:

What is the main purpose of your app? The purpose of the application is to track delivery men to deliver food and groceries to users who request it.

When a delivery man is connected, he can receive orders near his location, which he must deliver to the user who requested it.

Why does your app need to access location in the background? The application requires the use of geolocation in the background to allow the tracking of the delivery man by the user who requested the order and to be able to assign orders near his location.

Later you must upload the link to a video in which you demonstrate the operation of your app with the tracking function in the background, some recommendations:

You can upload the video to dropbox, google drive, or youtube but make sure it is public so they can see it Avoid videos or long explanations, it should last around 30 seconds Shows from the time the user logs in until the trace starts It is very important that a message is clearly displayed before starting the scan (this message can be displayed only the first time you scan and omitted subsequent times), you can display it in an alert or in a text on the login page. Sample tracking message for background geolocation

Another example:

The video may look like this example:

Finally click on save and the request should appear as sent:

It is Very important to additionally add access to a previously approved driver or delivery person account in the application so that it allows reviewers to carry out the tests.

Add login credentials to a demo account

To do this, create an account in your production application and approve it so that it can work, ideally the same account that you used in the video, and you must upload the username and password of this account in the Access to apps section:

In this section you must add the username and password, either edit it or add a new one as shown in the image:

Enter the name of the credentials for example "Delivery credentials", the email and password to access and some brief instructions on how to activate background tracking:

Finally click add and then save.

It is very important that you verify that the user is working correctly before adding the credentials.

Once sent you must wait a few days for it to be approved, meanwhile you will see this status in your panel:

Once approved, this message will disappear, if for some reason it is rejected you may receive an email similar to this:

In this case, we recommend you review this guide in detail and submit it for review again. It is not necessary to publish a new version of the app, unless you have added the alert message when connecting or modified a part of the interface.

Common mistakes:

Do not add the message when connecting. It is very important to add the message when the user clicks on start tracking and this must be a clear and colorful message. Upload very long videos. The video must last around 30 seconds, if it is longer they may not read it. Do not add valid username and password. If the username and password you added is from a driver, if approved could prevent the reviewer from validating your app. Very long or incomplete explanations. Get straight to the point and describe as concisely as possible the functionality of your app and why it requires background tracking. Not having a privacy policy. When publishing the app it is very important to include a link to a privacy policy that indicates that location data will be collected, they do not always review it but it can be the subject of rejection, you can edit it from your console where indicated in the image: