Home › Work, Careers & Leadership

Google Play rejected Sova AI app for using Accessibility API

🧭 worksocial problemSingle report ●●●●● severity 3/5

The developer of Sova AI reports that Google Play rejected their app submission because it uses the Android Accessibility API to perform cross-app automation, a feature the developer notes is similar to the agentic behavior promised but not delivered by native assistants like Gemini.

Who's affected: The developer of Sova AI

⚠️ Single report. This is one person's account. We mark it so until more voices confirm it.

What people do today

🔧 Fix this

Ideas a builder, maker or community group could start on:

  1. A developer advocacy group focused on lobbying Google to create a specific 'Agentic App' permission category with clear safety guidelines.
  2. A standardized, open-source framework for cross-app automation that provides safety auditing tools to help developers pass Play Store compliance reviews.
  3. A decentralized app distribution platform specifically for power-user tools that are restricted by mainstream app store policies.
I want to build this

Real voices

“Because we use the Accessibility API for universal automation (literally mapping and clicking other apps), Google Play rejected our submission.”

Source: Hacker News

Related problems

🧭 workproduct6 reports

Inability to filter AI-generated content on LinkedIn

●●●●● · A LinkedIn user and possibly others who find their professional feed cluttered with AI-generated content.
🧭 workproduct6 reports

Indeed job feed ignores user preferences

●●●●● · An Indeed job seeker and possibly others experiencing irrelevant job recommendations
🧭 worksocial6 reports

Difficulty setting boundaries with talkative senior colleague

●●●●● · An employee with a close, long-term relationship with a senior colleague.

FixHumanityDaily

The most important new problems, and ideas to fix them, in your inbox.

Placeholder: no data is collected yet.