Short answer: No. Larky's lead mobile engineer reviewed the policy changes shortly after Google's April 15, 2026 announcement, and neither of the two location-related changes applies to our implementation. No SDK changes, app rebuilds, or integration work are required from your team in response to this announcement.

If you'd like the details, read on.

What Google announced

On April 15, 2026, Google issued a Google Play Developer Program Policy Update that includes two changes related to location:

1. Geofencing has been removed as an approved foreground service use case. Apps that rely on Android foreground services (specifically FOREGROUND_SERVICE and FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION) to run geofencing are required to transition to Google's Geofence API.
2. A new "location button" is being introduced as the recommended minimum scope for precise location permissions.

Enforcement is expected to begin later in October 2026.

We've received this question from several partners, so the rest of this article walks through why neither change affects the Larky nudge® platform.

Geofencing on foreground services — does not apply

Larky does not use on-device geofencing to trigger location-based notifications. We evaluated that approach many years ago and chose a different architecture.

Instead, the app communicates its location directly to the Larky backend, and the backend determines whether the device is near a target location. Because Larky never registered a geofence on the device and never relied on a foreground service to host geofencing, there is nothing in our implementation that needs to migrate to the new Geofence API.

The new "location button" — does not apply

The new "location button" is an additional mechanism Google is offering as the recommended minimum scope for precise location permissions. It does not replace the existing permission request flow that apps using background location already follow.

Larky will continue to prompt for location permission using the same flow we do today. The new "location button" exists alongside that flow, not in place of it, and apps that need background location (as Larky does, to deliver location-based nudges when the app is not in the foreground) continue to use the existing prompt sequence.

What this means for your team

• No SDK update is required in response to this Google announcement.
• No changes to your app build configuration or integration layer are needed.
• No changes to the user-facing permission flow are needed.
• Geofencing functionality for your app users continues to work exactly as it does today.

As always, Larky proactively reviews upcoming Android and iOS policy and OS changes so that we can address potential impacts ahead of enforcement dates. If a future policy change does require integration work on your side, we'll reach out directly.

Questions?

If you'd like additional technical detail, or if a Google Play reviewer has asked you about this specific policy update during a submission, please contact Larky support and we'll be glad to help.