It was about five years ago. Back then, I was a developer… well, when I say "developer," I mean just a boy who had just stepped into the world of programming. 😅 I’d been coding for about a year, focusing on building websites and Java Android apps. But I wanted more. I dreamed of creating games—the kind that would light up the Google Play Store. ✨

So, I started learning Unity. I was programming with my friend Younes (shoutout to us! Hichem and Younes 🙌), we were total newbies in the ecosystem, but even thought we created some surprisingly good games: Code Breaking, Keep It Up, Count It, Chess Games, Color Guessing Games, Avoid & Run, and more. Honestly, for two amateurs, our games were solid—worthy of competing alongside Ketchapp and Voodoo titles (at least, that’s what we told ourselves 😂).

We decided to take the leap and buy a Google Play Developer account. With $25 pooled together, we bought the account. What a moment! We could actually publish apps! 😍 Being young and inexperienced, we faced a lot of rejections from Google at first (terms and policy violations and all that blah blah blah 🙄). But eventually, we managed to publish our games.

You can’t imagine the dopamine rush we felt seeing our games live in the Google Play Store. 🥳 I’d tell my friends and family, “Hey! Go to Google Play and search ‘Keep It Up’” (our game name) or “Look up ‘Studio Lab tech’” (the name we chose as a brand LOL). The joy was unreal.

Some of the screenshots when we were building our games

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A Quick Detour to Disaster

After about a year, life got busy with studies. We didn’t have time to build new games. One day, while scrolling through Upwork and Fiverr, hunting for tasks to make a little extra cash, I stumbled across an offer: $5 for someone with a Google Play Developer account to publish an app. 🤔

"Wow, that’s me! I have a developer account,” I thought. Quick $5? Why not? 💸

So, I did it. I uploaded the app, fixed a few errors flagged by Google, and got my $5. Nice! I started actively seeking out these publishing gigs. But something puzzled me—why didn’t these developers just buy their own accounts for $25? It seemed illogical. 🤷‍♂️

It wasn’t long before I discovered the answer… the hard way. 😔

The Beginning of the End

After publishing a few apps for $5 each, Google began sending alerts. One after another. Violations. Terms and policies. The worst part? I couldn’t delete the apps I uploaded. I tried archiving them but hesitated. Archiving would mean refunding the $5, right? So, I left them. Big mistake. 😓

Then came the dark day. I woke up, checked my email as usual, and saw the message:

“Hi Developers at Studio Lab Tech, this is a notification that your Google Play Developer account has been terminated.”

Just like that, we were terminated. I immediately called my friend. At first, we weren’t too worried. Surely, there must be a way to restore the account, right? Wrong. 😭 After some research, we found the devastating truth:

You can no longer be a Google Play Developer. Ever. 😱

Even creating a new account wouldn’t work. Google has ways to detect it. Our career in Android development was over. 💔

Growing But Shackled

Fast forward four years, and my friend and I are now seasoned developers. We’ve nailed it in web and app development: Java, React Native, Unity C#, Kotlin, Ionic, Flutter… you name it. But for what? We can build incredible apps, but we can’t publish them. The joy of seeing our creations live on Google Play? Gone. 😢

Google’s decision feels incredibly harsh and unjust. People change. Even criminals get a chance to redeem themselves. But for us, it’s a life sentence. We were young, inexperienced, and ignorant of the rules. We’ve learned so much since then, but the ban remains.

Now, I’m a full stack developer working with React, MongoDB, Laravel, Symfony, Java, and Python. But when it comes to Android apps? I’m locked out. Some of the best apps I’ve built sit idle, unpublished, breaking my heart every time I remember that I can’t share them with the world. 💔

Google, Why?

Google’s policy is understandable from a business perspective. They want to save time and money by eliminating risky accounts. But a lifetime ban? It’s extreme. Why not charge a higher fee for account restoration or allow for probationary periods? Why not give second chances? 😕

I’ve sent multiple appeals over the years, explaining my situation. “I was just a kid,” I wrote. But every time, the answer was the same: “No.”

My career—half of it, at least—is dead. I know I’m not alone. Many developers are in the same situation. We’re not asking for much—just a chance to prove we’ve changed, to redeem ourselves. 🙏

Google, please reconsider.

To anyone reading this: What can we do? Is there any hope? My wish, my dream, is for Google to give second chances. Until then, the apps I build will remain unpublished, and a part of my career will remain unfinished. 😔