Account statuses and strikes on Shelf
What each publisher status means, how strikes add up and how to appeal.
If a publisher breaks the rules, they get a strike. Points count for 12 months.
Points and statuses
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| --- | --- |
| Pending | Applied, waiting to be verified |
| Active | Everything works |
| Warned | 1 point. A notice is shown |
| Restricted | 2 to 3 points. No new apps or releases. Existing apps stay |
| Suspended | 4 to 5 points. Apps hidden and not downloadable |
| Banned | 6 or more points. Permanent, account closed |
A minor strike is 1 point, a major one 2 and a severe one 3.
Immediate ban
Malware or spyware, fraud or stolen payments, child sexual abuse material and pretending to be Viremail lead to an immediate ban, with no points needed.
What a strike cites
Malware, deceptive behaviour, impersonation, missing or bypassed Sign in with Viremail, competing category, objectionable content, privacy and data, payments and licensing, spam and manipulation, intellectual property, or other.
Appeal
You can appeal each strike once, within 30 days. We answer within 7 days, and the person answering did not issue the strike. If it is overturned it stops counting.
Your audit log
Every change to your account, with the date, the policy, the points and the reason, is in your log in the publisher console.
The full rules are in the violation policy, which is still a draft for legal review.