I adjusted the COVID-19 data checkbox in my Wear OS watch face's play store settings. After submission I got an unexpected policy violation of "Your app’s Play Store listing provided a non-valid Wear OS screenshot which is framed within the device. A valid Wear OS screenshot must include the full-frame image of the app interface."
The whole round circle of the emulator is inside all 5 screenshots of my app, so I have the full-frame of the app, so the only explanation for this could be that the emulator little bezel was also visible around the app view area. So I wasted some hours and masked out the bezel and anything except the app screen with a transparent color.
Now I got another policy violation: "Your Wear OS screenshots include transparent backgrounds or masking.".
Until round PNGs are invented there must be something around the app area. I obviously opted for a transparent color, because I don't know if the user who browses the listing has their phone in dark mode or light mode. I assume if foolishly I decided on either white or black color masking, that would be a masking violation. How am I supposed to solve this? The email address of the policy violations are no-reply email addresses, so I cannot get help from there.
I guess the policy could be this guideline WO-F2. https://developer.android.com/docs/quality-guidelines/wear-app-quality#better
"The app must mention Wear OS in its Google Play Store listing and contain at least one screenshot that depicts the Wear OS app experience. Provide screenshots showing only your app interface. Don’t place your screenshots within device frames, or include additional text, graphics, or backgrounds that are not part of the interface of your app. Upload screenshots with a 1:1 aspect ratio. For more information, see Add preview assets to showcase your app."
Due to the roundness of wearables it's absolutely impossible to not have any background around my watch face app.
Here are my two watch faces with this violation:
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.csaba.vfdwatchface
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.csaba.complicationflowerwatchface
Attention against closing: although that Google Play Console Main Store Listing for Wear OS happens to answers my question, it does not have the specific policy violation message in the title, or EVEN IN THE TEXT. It's only on the screenshot, so no wonder I haven't found it when I searched for my problem before posting my issue. If we close my entry, I can 100% GUARANTEE you that others will open up similar entries over time, because they won't find that other issue either. Consider that please before voting for closing.
Dupe of Google Play Console Main Store Listing for Wear OS
You need a non-transparent background, preferably black.
I use fastlane for publishing my app, so I wrote this plugin for it's screenshots that automates this.
https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/pull/20054
But you can do this manually with a photo editor, since the Android Studio screenshots either have transparent or a device frame.