Google Play Metadata Policy Violation: How to Fix It

What this rejection means

The title, icon, descriptions or screenshots break Google’s listing rules: repeated or unrelated keywords, words like “best”, “#1” or “free” in the title, emoji or ALL CAPS, prices or rankings in the icon, or claims the app can’t back up.

Why reviewers send it

Store listings are reviewed like the app. Keyword stuffing, promotional words like “best” or “#1” in the title, emoji, and rankings or prices in the icon all break Google’s Metadata policy.

The message Google Play sends

Issue found: Violation of Metadata policy

Your app’s title, icon, or description contains misleading, repetitive, or irrelevant keywords or references.

The exact wording changes from one review to the next; the policy name is what to look for.

How to fix it

Make the title your app’s name plus at most a short descriptor — no emoji, ALL CAPS, “best”, “#1”, “free” or prices.
Write the descriptions for people: no keyword lists, no repeated phrases, no unattributed testimonials.
Remove rankings, prices and awards you can’t back up from the icon and screenshots.
Save the listing and resubmit. No new build needed.

What to tell Google Play

Replace the [brackets] with what you actually changed:

We rewrote the title and descriptions to remove [repeated keywords / promotional claims], and updated the icon and screenshots.

Got a different message?

Paste the whole rejection into the rejection explainer. It recognises this one and 26 others, in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Google Play Metadata policy violation