Google Play SMS and call log permissions policy: fixes and checks

Reading a verification code doesn’t automatically qualify an app to read messages. Google’s SMS and Call Log policy normally ties restricted access to being the active default SMS, Phone, or Assistant handler, with specific documented exceptions.

Check role and manifest together

Inspect declarations such as READ_SMS or READ_CALL_LOG, including library-added entries. The app must hold the required role before requesting access and stop using it when it loses that role. We’d test changing the default handler after access was granted.

Use an eligible method

Remove restricted permissions if the app doesn’t qualify, and use a narrower supported flow for the task. If relying on an exception, verify its exact conditions in Google’s linked help guidance and complete the required declaration.

Limit permitted data use to the approved core feature; using another API to reconstruct the same restricted data isn’t a workaround. Test role changes, refusal, and the corrected task. Give Google the eligibility evidence and final permission list.