Android app developers, like iOS developers, come from all over the world. They work tirelessly and bank their hopes and dreams on one app that may or may not become a hit. They finish up the app and enter the publishing phase to find out that their country and its currency is not supported by Google Play. Don’t give up though, Google is adding more countries all the time.
Google announced today that four more countries and their respective currencies are now supported on the Google Play network. Developers from the Czech Republic, Israel, Poland and Mexico can now sell apps and in-app products on Google Play. The major benefit from this is that developers from these countries can use their local bank accounts for payments.
If you were based in Israel or Mexico, chances are you were selling your apps and making money through a Google AdSense merchant account. If this applies to you, you need to migrate your apps to a new Google Play account in your local currency. If you don’t know how to do this, Google does and they know who you are. The company will send you an email about the migration process.
If you’re a developer in one of these countries, you will need to set up a Google Play developer account. They’re super easy to set up and allow you complete control over your apps. From here, you can price them in “any available buyer currencies, publish, and then receive payouts and financial data in your local currency.”
If you’re an Android developer in an already established country, you need to pay attention as well. The addition of these new countries means there’s the potential for more revenue. Hit up your developer console and price your apps in accordance with these new currencies.
Before you do that though, you might want to localize your app for these new countries. Good thing Google recently updated its Google Translate tools to work with Android apps for easy localization.