IssueTracker

After trying to contact Google multiple ways over a long period of time, this is my last resort. I have tried to get a proper feedback as to why my app repeatedly is rejected for a while now, but I always get the same response. The response claims that our category is not one of the supported categories for Android for Cars App.

"At this time, we are only accepting apps within categories supported by the Android for Cars App Library as well as the Media and Video categories."

Our app is a toll passings calculation app which allows users to calculate the cost of driving from a startpoint to a destination. You can also launch the Google Maps app with the startpoint and destination that is plotted in, in order to get the navigation. Firstly, we tried setting the category to POI, which is one of the five approved categories, and when that was rejected, we tried setting it to PARKING. Both of which was rejected with the same explanation "At this time, we are only accepting apps within categories supported by the Android for Cars App Library as well as the Media and Video categories". Further, this link (https://developer.android.com/training/cars#supported-app-categories), which lists media apps, messaging apps, navigation apps, POI apps and video apps, was referenced. How come the rejection says that our category is not supported, when our category is one of the listed categories which are supported? This is very confusing, and not at all a good enough reason to reject our app. We need a more detailed reasoning, so we can understand what needs to be fixed.

We filed an appeal, and after 14 (!!) days we finally got an answer, but to our frustration it provided absolutely no valuable feedback which we could work on. ""At this time, we are only accepting apps within the Media, short form Messaging, or categories supported by the Android for Cars App Library. Media apps that use TSS engine readout for content are not permitted at this time". This is not a better explanation to why our app was rejected. It still says that the category is not supported.

This has been going on for a month now, with us submitting and resubmitting the app, appealing and sending questions to Google Developer Support. None of the answers are helping us, and it seems like most of the answers are automatic generic responses. We need a proper explanation from a real person, while now it seems like our app is automatically rejected.

Package name of the app is: no.fremtindservice.bilokonomi

Below is the code from the android.manifest file where the cateogry is defined:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>. 
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">

    <uses-feature
        android:name="android.hardware.type.automotive"
        android:required="true" />
    <uses-feature
        android:name="android.hardware.wifi"
        android:required="false" />
    <uses-feature
        android:name="android.hardware.screen.portrait"
        android:required="false" />
    <uses-feature
        android:name="androidx.car.app.hardware.info"
        android:required="false" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.car.permission.CAR_INFO" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/data_extraction_rules"
        android:fullBackupContent="@xml/backup_rules"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.Fremtind"
        tools:targetApi="31">

        <meta-data
            android:name="com.android.automotive"
            android:resource="@xml/automotive_app_desc" />

        <meta-data
            android:name="androidx.car.app.minCarApiLevel"
            android:value="3" />

        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                <category android:name="androidx.car.app.category.POI" />
            </intent-filter>
            <meta-data android:name="distractionOptimized" android:value="true" />
        </activity>

    </application>

</manifest>