Most of the Google Play submission gotchas you read about are loud. The screenshot dimensions are wrong, the data safety form keeps failing, the closed testing track wants 14 days. Those at least show up as red error banners.

The privacy policy URL is different. It is the quiet one. You do not notice it until you have already filled out everything else and your release sits there refusing to roll out.

Here is what Google actually expects:

A live, public URL that anyone can open without a login

A policy that names your app specifically

Disclosure of every type of data your app collects, including SDK data you may not realize is in there (ads, analytics, crash reporting)

A contact method

Things that quietly get you flagged:

Hosting the privacy policy as a Google Doc set to view-only. The URL works in your browser but the Google bot reads it as locked.

Linking to a generator template you forgot to fill in.…