Android app: Background location access not declared

Question

I have a problem with Google Play policy which is related to background location. My app doesn't use background and foreground locations. App doesn't have <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION"> in the manifest. I answered in the Google Developer Console what app doesn't use background location. I received e-mail from Google Play with text: "We detected that your app contains at least one feature that requests access to location in the background, however your permission declaration form did not reflect this. Please log in to your Play Console to resubmit your location declaration form. You may either remove location in the background from your app or indicate that the usage is in the background."

I raised a request to a policy team 3 weeks ago but still did not get a reply. I do not know how to determine the exact place where background location is used. I tried to upload apk with <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION" tools:node="remove" /> permission in the manifest but without success. Also I tried to replace old version of app in the testing channel and distribute app to 100%.

Answer 1

The fix is very close to what Anton writes in an earlier answer. But he didn't have to call on Google to remove the file. The problem is that an old APK/App bundle file is put in the Alpha/Beta testing (and never promoted to production) and instead of replacing it, he just put another APK/App bundle in to production. Because of updates in how reviews are conducted by google, the Alpha/Beta file is now reviewed instead of the new production file. You will see the versionCode of the old APK/App bundle in the rejection from Google.

So the solution is to put the new APK/App bundle file in to the same Alpha/Beta as the old file and from there promote it to production. Problem solved.

Answer 2

In my individual case, there was a very old APK in the Google Play Console because os some error. And this APK for an unknown reason wasn't overrided by the next versions of APK. I asked Google Support to remove this strange APK.