Someone put your game on Google Play or the App Store. How to get it taken down.

You never released a mobile version. Someone else did. It has your title, or one close to it, your screenshots and your game inside, and it is earning money for a developer name you have never heard of.

We know this one from the inside: a game we shipped was taken apart, rebuilt and sold by someone else. It happens on phone stores because a web build, a jam game or an Android file is easy to repackage and a phone store reaches people who have never heard of the original. This page covers how to tell what kind of copy it is, what to check before you report it, what to save, how Google Play, the App Store and Samsung's Galaxy Store each handle a report, and what to do when it comes back. It is not legal advice, and the places where a lawyer is worth paying are marked.

1. Work out what kind of copy it is

The route you take depends on what was taken. Play the copy, or watch its screenshots and trailer closely, and decide which of these it is.

Signs that the copy is your own build: your credits screen, your text and typos, your bugs, your sound effects in the same places. You do not need to open the copy's files to show this. Playing it and recording what you see is usually enough for a notice.

A free game is still yours. In 2023, the developer of a free horror game on itch.io posted that it "was published on Google Play Store by someone without my permission", and that the copy carried ads, so someone was earning money from a game its maker gave away. Copyright does not depend on price.

2. Check what you allowed

This step protects you. A copyright notice is a sworn statement, and the easiest way to get one wrong is to report a use you already permitted. Look at what you published with the game.

• An open source code license. Some licenses allow anyone to sell copies. The MIT License, for example, grants permission to "publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies", on the condition that the copyright and permission notice are included. A copy that drops the notice may break the license. A copy that keeps it may be allowed. Other licenses ask more: the GPL version 3 requires anyone who distributes the program in compiled form to also provide the "machine-readable Corresponding Source". A copy that does not may have broken the license, which ends the rights it granted under its own terms.
• A license on the art and music. Code and assets are often licensed separately. A Creative Commons NonCommercial license, for instance, covers use "not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation". A paid app, or one full of ads, is hard to fit inside that.
• A deal you signed. A publisher, porting partner or distributor may have been given mobile rights. Check your contracts before you report a listing that might be theirs.
• Jam rules and page terms. Read the rules of any jam you entered and anything you wrote on your own download page about reuse.

If your game was released under an open license and the copy appears to follow it, a copyright notice is likely the wrong tool. If the copy breaks the license's conditions, the case is real but harder to explain to a reviewer. Both are good reasons to talk to a lawyer before you send anything.

3. Save the evidence before you report it

Listings change once a seller knows someone is looking. Capture everything first. The first page in this series covers preserving a store listing in general. For a phone store, add these.

• The app's ID. A Google Play address ends with ?id= and a package name, such as com.example.game. An App Store address ends with id and a number. Copies get renamed. The ID is how a reviewer finds the right app, so put the full address in every report.
• The developer's details as the store shows them. Google says it displays the developer's "legal name, your country (as per your legal address), and developer email address" for personal accounts, and the full address once a developer monetizes. Organization accounts show a legal address and a phone number as well. Save the developer page. It tells you who you are dealing with and where they are.
• How it makes money. The price, any in-app purchases, and screenshots of the ads it shows. This matters for licenses (section 2) and for the ad network (section 7).
• The install count and rating, with the date. They show the scale of the harm.
• A recording of the copy running. Install it the normal way on a phone and record the parts that are yours: the title screen, the credits, a level, the music.
• Your side. The dated release of your original, its store or download page, and the source files or project history that show it is yours.

Search for more than one copy before you file. Search each phone store for your title, your characters' names, your studio name and any translation of your title, and run your key art through a reverse image search. A seller who copied one game often copied several, and a second copy of yours under another account changes how you report.

4. Report it on Google Play

Google Play's Intellectual Property policy says Google does not allow apps or developer accounts that infringe copyright, and that it "will respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement". The notice goes through Google's legal removal tool. Choose Google Play, then Google Play: Apps, then the copyright option, and confirm that you are the owner or act for the owner.

• One report per Google product. Google says to "submit a separate notice for each relevant product". A copy on Google Play and a trailer for it on YouTube are two reports.
• Give exact addresses. Google asks for the specific URL of the content, not a home page, and says you will get an email confirmation and a reference number. Save both.
• The notice itself needs the same elements as any U.S. copyright notice. The first page in this series lists all six, with sample wording.
• If the copy uses your name or icon, there are two more routes. For trademarks, Google asks owners to "reach out to the developer directly" first and then use its trademark form. The Impersonation policy covers apps that pretend to be another app or developer. A registered trademark makes the first route much stronger. The page on trademarking a game name explains what registration adds.
• Player reports are not a notice. Anyone can use "Flag as inappropriate" on a listing. It is worth telling players about, but it does not replace your notice as the owner.

What Google can do to the account

Google's enforcement process describes a ladder. A removed app disappears from the store, and Google says "multiple removals may result in a suspension". Suspensions count as strikes against the developer account, and multiple strikes can end it. When an account is terminated, Google says related accounts are suspended too, and "any new account that you try to open will be terminated as well". That is the reason to report every copy, every time. Each removal is a record against the account.

The other developer can answer. Google's legal tool has a counter-notice option for content removed after a copyright complaint. If they use it, the page on counter-notices explains the U.S. timeline and what they have to swear to.

5. Report it on the App Store

Apple's review guidelines are direct about this. Guideline 5.2 says "someone else's app may be removed if they've 'borrowed' from your work", and 5.2.1 says apps should be submitted by the person or company that owns or has licensed the rights. Guideline 4.1 tells developers not to make minor changes to another app's name or interface and pass it off as their own, and says impersonating other apps may lead to removal from the developer program.

The report goes through Apple's App Store Content Dispute form. What follows is different from Google. Apple says that "in most cases" it will contact the provider of the disputed content and ask that they work with you directly to resolve it. Expect an email from the other developer, not a removal notice from Apple. Keep every reply in writing, keep it calm, and ask for something specific: remove the app by a date.

If the copy has taken your game's name, the same page has an App Name Dispute form for when an app is preventing you from using your trademark as an app name. That matters if you plan to release your own iPhone version later.

6. Other Android stores and download sites

Android apps are sold in many stores, and a copy on Google Play is often on others too. Each one needs its own report.

• Samsung Galaxy Store. Samsung's help page sends owners to a contact form, which asks you to sign in with a Samsung account. Samsung says that once the content is reviewed, "it may be suspended, or an action may be taken in accordance with the relevant laws".
• Other stores. Look for a copyright or intellectual property page in the store's help or legal section. For a U.S. service, the Copyright Office's DMCA Designated Agent Directory lists the agent it has named to receive notices.
• Download sites that mirror app files. Some sites copy apps from the stores and keep them up after the store removes them. Treat them like any other download site. The page on pirate sites covers who can remove a file and how to get it out of search results.
• A seller abroad. Most copies on phone stores come from accounts in another country. The store is still the place that can act. The page on copies made abroad explains what EU rules require of platforms after a notice.

One change is coming to Android itself. Google says that from September 30, 2026, installs in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand are checked against registered, identity-verified developers, across Google Play, Samsung's Galaxy Store and several other stores, with a global rollout planned for 2027. Developers who distribute outside Google Play register their package names by proving they hold the app's signing key. Google has not said how this will be used against copies, so we make no claim about that. If you ship an Android build anywhere, registering it puts your identity on your package name.

7. Follow the money

A copy earns from purchases or from ads. Both are places where you can act, and both matter to the players who were misled.

• Ads. If the copy shows ads, an ad network is paying for your game. Google's AdMob requires apps to follow the AdSense program policies, and Google's publisher policies say Google does not allow content that infringes copyright and that it responds to DMCA notices. You will not always know which network a copy uses. When the ads are clearly Google's, it is worth naming that in your Google report.
• Purchases. Players who paid for the copy bought something from the store, not from you. Point them to the store: Google Play's refund policies and Apple's refund request page. You cannot refund them yourself, and it is not your debt.
• Your own lost sales. Recovering money from the seller means a lawsuit, usually in another country. For most small games, removal is the realistic goal. If the copy is large and the seller is reachable in the United States, registration decides what you can recover. That is the point to talk to a lawyer.

8. When it comes back

It often does, under a new title or a new account. This section is our advice on keeping that from taking over your week.

• Keep one log. Every copy, its store, app ID, developer name, the date you found it, the date you reported it, the reference number and the outcome. When the same developer name, email or address shows up again, say so in the new report and include the old reference numbers. A pattern is easier to act on than a single case.
• Reuse your evidence. Keep one folder with your proof of ownership and your comparison images. Each new report then takes minutes.
• Tell your players where the real game is. A line on your store page and your site saying where the official versions are, and that you have no mobile version if you do not, helps players and store reviewers alike. If you warn players about a copy, name it rather than linking to it, so you are not sending it traffic.
• Set a time limit. Decide how much time a week this deserves. The page on pirate sites has a way to think about that budget. A paid copy with ads on a major store deserves more of it than a mirror nobody visits.

9. Before it happens again

None of this stops a determined copier. What it does is make the next report fast and the next reviewer certain. This is our advice.

• Know what your licenses allow. If you release code or assets under an open license, choose one whose terms you are happy to see a stranger use on a phone store, and write the reuse rules on your download page in plain words.
• Publish a list of official versions. One page on your site with every store where the game is sold, kept current. It is the first thing a reviewer can check.
• Register the game's copyright and consider the name. A registration is strong evidence in a notice and keeps U.S. remedies open. A registered trademark makes the name reports on both stores stronger. The registration guide and the trademark page cover each.
• Search the phone stores on a schedule. Once a month, search for your title and characters on Google Play and the App Store. Copies are cheapest to remove before they gather installs.

Common questions

Someone uploaded my free game to Google Play with ads. Can I get it removed?

Yes, if you own it and did not license it for that use. A free game is still protected by copyright. Report it through Google's legal removal tool under Google Play: Apps.

My game is open source. Can someone sell it on the App Store?

It depends on the license. Some, like MIT, allow selling copies if the notice is kept. Others, like the GPL, require the source to be provided. Read your license, and ask a lawyer before you report a copy that may be following it.

How do I find out who uploaded it?

Start with the store's developer page. Google Play shows a developer's legal name, country and email, and more for paid apps and organizations. Apple will usually put you in contact with the developer after a dispute.

Do I have to contact the developer first?

Google's copyright route does not require it. For a trademark complaint, Google asks you to try the developer first. Apple's process puts you in contact with the developer as part of the dispute.

Will Apple remove the copy straight away?

Apple says it usually contacts the other developer and asks the two of you to resolve it directly. Expect a conversation first.

The copy has a different name. Can I still report it?

Yes. Copyright covers the game, not the title. Include the app's ID from the store address so the reviewer finds the right app.

I never made a mobile version. Does that matter?

No. You do not have to sell on a platform for a copy there to infringe. It helps to say clearly in the notice that you have released no mobile version.

Can I use Google's removal tool if I live outside the United States?

Yes. The large stores take notices from developers anywhere, and you do not need a registration to send one.

It keeps coming back under new accounts. What else can I do?

Report every copy and keep reference numbers. Google says multiple removals can lead to suspension, and when an account is terminated, related accounts are suspended and new ones are terminated. Name the repeat in each new report.

This page describes Google Play's Intellectual Property and Impersonation policies, its enforcement process, its developer account requirements, Google's legal removal tool and help page, Google Play's pages on flagging apps and on refunds, Google's publisher policies and AdMob policies, Android developer verification, Apple's App Store Review Guidelines, its dispute forms and refund page, Samsung's Galaxy Store reporting page, and the MIT, GPL version 3 and Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licenses, as read on 16 October 2026. The 2023 account is quoted from the developer's own itch.io post. The statements that phone-store copies often appear on other stores and mirror sites, often come back under new accounts and often come from sellers abroad are general description without a linked source. The sections on when copies come back and on the next release are our own advice. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation.