Android™ announced last week that it was going to be rolling out new Content Ratings for its app market. It will be requiring all current and future apps to select a content rating of: "All, Pre-Teen, Teen and Mature." This week the content ratings went live for developers to be able to rate their current app, but the ratings themselves aren’t expected to be viewable on the store for a few weeks.

We understand that these new regulations can be a bit confusing so we wanted to give you our thoughts and recommendations to help you decide how to rate your app. While this may have come as a surprise to Android app developers and users, in our opinion it seems like a natural next step for the Android Market. We believe that what makes the Android Market great is also one of its small downfalls. It is a great environment for Android app developers to create apps without the restrictions that confine them on other platforms. This is great for developers but often leaves the consumer confused because of the multitude of apps on the market. Android claims that this new content rating system will help users filter out and discern what apps are age-appropriate for them. Overall we think this is a good step for developers and users, even though it does force developers to choose the appropriate age for its apps.

Our Recommendations

We recommend that you logon and rate your app as soon as possible (within the next few weeks) as Android has stated that they will rate any unrated apps as Mature. A Mature rating could decrease the amount of exposure your app will have in the Android Market.

If you have business related app, we recommend that you rate your app "All". This will give you the most visibility and exposure on the Android Market.

Exceptions:

• If the app asks for the location of your user, you should rate it as "Pre-Teen or above"

• If the app asks your users to publish their location, you should rate it as "Teen"

• If the app focuses on allowing users to communicate with each other, you should rate it as "Teen"

• If the app has any user generated content, like a social network site, you should rate it as "Teen"

For more content guidelines please reference the Android Market Rating Guidelines

The Content Ratings can be found in the Developer’s Console, under Publishing Options.

In the next few weeks after the ratings have appeared on the store, I am sure we will see how the rating system actually affects users and how loudly developers protest. I believe that this is a step in the right direction no matter how restricting it might appear. We work hard to develop successful Android mobile applications for our clients and are excited to be a part of the mobile evolution. If you have any questions or comments about where the rating system will take the Android Market or our recommendations, please leave a comment below.