Can I republish my app under a different account?

Question

I'd like to republish my app using the same package name under a different account. Can this be done?

Background: I have read many posts about people post about how they lost their keystore or were banned, and the solution provided to them was to republish their app using a new package name and a new keystore. This is not my situation or what I'm looking to do. I do have my password(s)/keystore.

The motivation: I have published about a half dozen apps to the market, and now that they are growing in user base, I have realized it was a mistake to publish under my personal google account and now wish to do things as a company/LLC to protect my personal assets/account. To that end, I want to effectively transfer the app to another account. using a new wallet account, admob, etc. I imagine this would be done by unpublishing from my personal account, resigning and then uploading under a new account.

Policy Considerations: For those people that have been banned, they are obviously breaking some kind of terms of service by republishing the same thing. I am in good standing with Google currently and don't want to risk anything that might make them upset or give reason to ban. I can not figure out whether or not this is against their TOS/policies. Especially since I am trying to migrate towards that they were advocating.

(As an aside, if it were trivially possible, why wouldn't a malicious user publish the same content under numerous accounts?)

Goal: Retain userbase and package ID so that when I release new versions under the new account all existing users on my personal account will receive those updates.

Resources:

• Developer Program Policy; https://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html

• Developer Distribution Agreement; https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html

(There are other agreements but those two seem most relevant)

Summary question: Can I accomplish this transfer without losing users?

Answer 1

After digging deeper I have discovered this

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/checklist/3294213?hl=en&ref_topic=3450986

Which may be the answer to transferring. I haven't done it yet, though. Plan to respond when I know it works.

Answer 2

It is possible to transfer the ownership of your apps from one account to another in google play store. I found a blog post that tells you the steps to do so:

• Visit this link
• Fill out the form completely and accurately
• Select “Transfer Applications to Another Account” from the Issue Type drop down
• Submit Form
• Check your E-Mail and reply with the requested information
• Forward the E-Mail to the person accepting the app/game transfer and have them reply as requested
• Wait for Google to wave their magic wand