Verifying your Play Console developer account (for accounts created before September, 2023) (2024)

Timeline information

We anticipate the following timeline for rollout in Play Console. Note that this is subject to change; we will update this article to reflect most up-to-date information in the event of any changes.

Verification deadlines in Play Console

We know that developers of different types and sizes have different priorities and timelines. We also know that it will take some developers longer to verify than others. With this in mind, we tested and refined our verification flows with developers with the aim of making them easier and understandable. We found that developers had a strong preference to choose their own deadline by which to complete account verification.

Starting in November 2023, deadlines were made available on a first come, first served basis. If you didn't choose a deadline before February 29, 2024, we have assigned a deadline for you automatically, which you can view on the Account details page in Play Console.

What are the benefits of verifying my developer account early?

Verified account information is shown on Google Play for developers who have verified their developer account. This helps users to learn more about you, builds trust, and gives them more confidence to download your apps and games. Learn more about the information that's displayed on Google Play.

After you reserved a verification deadline, the account owner and all account admins will have received a confirmation email. The email also contains information about next steps, including how you can apply for a D-U-N-S number if you need one. If you're not sure whether a verification deadline has been chosen for your account, you can check the Activity log in Play Console.

You can start account verification in Play Console 60 days before your chosen deadline. If you are unable to complete verifications by your chosen deadline, your developer profile and apps will be removed from Google Play.

Verifying your developer account in Play Console

When account verification is available in Play Console, you must provide certain information which helps us to verify your identity. This information differs between personal accounts and organization accounts.

Required information for verifying a personal developer account

When account verification is available in Play Console, you'll need to provide:

• Legal name (shown on Google Play)
• Legal address (country shown on Google Play)
• A private email address and phone number for Google to contact you (verified using one-time password)
• Preferred locale for email communications
• Contact phone number (verified using one-time password)
• An email address that will be shown on Google Play as part of your public developer profile. You can provide a different email address for app support queries for each of your apps on the Store settings(Grow > Store presence > Store settings) page in Play Console.

Additional information for personal developer accounts:

• Developer website (optional)

Required information for verifying an organization developer account

When account verification is available in Play Console, you'll need to provide:

• Legal name (shown on Google Play)
• Legal address (shown on Google Play)
• A private email address and phone number for Google to contact you (verified using one-time password)
• Preferred locale for email communications
• An email address and phone number that will be shown on Google Play as part of your public developer profile. You can provide a different email address for app support queries for each of your apps on the Store settings(Grow > Store presence > Store settings) page in Play Console.
• Proof of business registration that confirms the current existence of the organization.

All business documents must be issued by a trustworthy authority such as a federal/state/municipal government, public institution (tax authority, securities and exchange commission, and so on), chamber of commerce, business registry, and so on.

In the event of Government organization you may submit a document with your government’s letterhead as a form of proof if the above business documents are not available.

Important: Submitting unsupported documents is the primary reason for developer verification failures.

Additional information for organizations:

• Organization type
  • Company/business
  • Non-profit
  • Academic institution
  • Government
• Organization size
  • 1-10
  • 11-50
  • 51-100
  • 101-1000
  • Over 1k employees
• Organization phone number
• Organization website

Additional requirements for developers who earn money using Google Play's billing system

If you earn money on Google Play using Google Play's billing system, you'll also need to verify your merchant payment details. Developers with unverified bank accounts will have their developer presence and apps removed from Google Play. This is part of an ongoing effort to keep Google Play users safe. Learn more about managing your merchant account information and verifying your bank account.

In certain regions, developers are required to provide additional information which may be displayed on Google Play, like their phone number or full address. Visit this Help Centre article to learn more.

Steps to verify your account

Before you begin verifying your account, you can prepare by learning about the verification requirements that were introduced for personal and organizational developer accounts. You can also learn more about the required information for new developers to create a Play Console developer account.

To verify your developer account:

1. Open the Play Console Home page within 60 days of your verification deadline.
   • Tip: If you don't know or can't remember your deadline, you can find it on the Account details page.
2. You'll see a notification near the top of the page, prompting you to verify your account. At the bottom of the notification, click Get started. Note that, if you try to verify more than 60 days before your verification deadline, this notification will not yet be visible.
3. The next screen lists the sections you'll need to complete to verify your account:
   • Confirm your account type
   • Link a payments profile
   • Provide account information
   • Provide contact details.

To begin the verification process, click Start.

4. Confirm your account type by selecting Organization account or Personal account. Click Next. This selection determines the verifications you're required to complete, and cannot be changed later. Learn about the two account types.
5. Select a payments profile and click Continue. If you don't have one yet, click Create new payments profile and follow the on-screen instructions. Learn more about creating a payments profile. Learn more about selecting a payments profile below.
   • Important: If you have an organization account, you are required to enter your organization's D-U-N-S number as part of creating their payment profile. Ensure that you have a D-U-N-S number as early as possible as it can take 30 days or more to obtain one.
6. Check that the payment profile details listed are correct, and click Next.
7. Follow the on-screen instructions to provide account information. This information is only used by Google to contact you, and isn't shown on Google Play. Visit this Help Center article to learn more. Click Next.
8. Follow the on-screen instructions to provide account information. This information is shown on Google Play so that users can contact you. Visit this Help Center article to learn more. Click Next.
9. Review your profile information. To finish, click Confirm and save.
   • Important: To complete your identity verification, you may be asked to verify your identity and organization using valid ID and official documentation.

After you've provided the information required to verify your account, we will review and process your submission. The account owner will receive an email when verification is complete. This may take a few days.

Selecting a Payments profile when creating or verifying a Play Console developer account

To create a new or verify an existing Play Console developer account, you must create or select a payments profile. This profile verifies your identity. Payment profiles can either be for individuals or organizations. Only the organization's payment profile can be shared with multiple people.

If your organization has multiple developer accounts that share the same identity details, you may want to consider reusing the same payments profile across these accounts to simplify the verification process.

Important: Make sure you understand the implications of sharing a payment profile with other people before adding them as admins. Granting admin access means they may be able to use the payment details that are part of the payment profile.

Sharing a payments profile

To share a payments profile across multiple developer accounts, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Grant access to the payments profile

Each Play Console account owner must be an admin of the payments profile. An existing profile admin must add the account owner to the payments profile on the Google payments center Settings page. To do so:

1. Open the Google payments center Settings page.
   • Important: If you have multiple payments profiles, make sure you select the correct profile from the dropdown in the top right corner.
2. Under "Payments users" Click Manage payments users," click Manage payments users.
3. Click Add new user.
4. Enter the user's name, email address, and select "Admin with all permissions."
5. Choose an email preference option and click Invite.
6. (Optional) Repeat for each additional account owner.

Step 2: Accept the invitation

Each account owner will receive an email from payments-noreply@google.com. They must accept the invitation to be added to the payments profile.

Step 3: Select the profile in Play Console

Once added to the payments profile, account owners can select it when verifying their developer account in Play Console.