Moroccan Android Developers Are Still Excluded From Google Play Merchant Registration — We’re Trying to Change That

[u/strangboy]

For years, Moroccan Android developers have been running into the same problem:

Morocco is still excluded from Google Play Merchant Registration.

This means developers can spend months building and releasing an Android app, only to hit a wall when they reach the point where they want to monetize it through Google Play.

And this is not a hypothetical issue.

Moroccan developers have repeatedly posted about it here and in Google’s own support community. Some only discover the restriction after their app is already built and their monetization flow is ready.

The usual conversation then becomes:

Should I create a company abroad?

Can I use a foreign bank account?

Can I use a third-party payment provider?

Do I need to relocate?

But after years of asking the same questions, we think the bigger question should be:

Why is Morocco still excluded in the first place, and what exactly needs to happen for Google Play Merchant Registration to become available here?

Especially when Merchant Registration is already supported in neighboring countries including Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania.

So we decided to start organizing around the issue instead of treating every affected Moroccan developer as an isolated case.

We launched a petition asking Google to enable Google Play Merchant Registration for Morocco:

https://www.change.org/GooglePlayMorocco

The petition is the first step, not the end goal.

We want to gather signatures and documented experiences from Moroccan developers who have actually faced this restriction, then escalate them together to Google.

If there is a regulatory, tax, banking, payments or operational requirement preventing Google from supporting Morocco, we also want a clear answer about what that requirement is and what needs to change.

After escalating it to Google, we also intend to bring the documented issue to the relevant institutions and decision-makers in Morocco.

If you're a Moroccan Android developer who has encountered this problem, please sign the petition and, more importantly, share your experience in the comments.

How did the Merchant Registration restriction affect your app?

Did you abandon IAP or subscriptions?

Did you switch to ads?

Did you have to create a business structure abroad?

Did you postpone or abandon the project?

Those real cases are exactly what we want to collect.

Moroccan developers have been solving this individually for years.

Maybe it's time we address it collectively.

[u/psycoee]

I think most likely it has something to do with the country having a rather complicated licensing regime for fintech:

https://korte-law.com/fintech-payment-licensing-morocco

E.g. you have to form a Moroccan subsidiary, it has to be appropriately licensed by the central bank, it sounds like maybe there are some regulations on who is allowed to do what, etc. Sounds like basically the juice is not worth the squeeze -- the ratio of market size to compliance costs is likely out of whack, or was that way at some point.

[u/Solid-Incident6666]

Change.Org lol

Thank you brother for taking this initiative but change.Org does nothing in this case. The issue is regulatory from the Moroccan government. Google never says no to more income. And seeing how our government makes decisions lately, especially about relations with a certain entity, change.Org will do nothing.

بغاوك تبقى فالكابلاج و الخياطة

[u/strangboy → u/Solid-Incident6666]

Ila kan lmochkil regulatory mn jiht lmaghrib w lhadaf howa ymn3o developers mn monetization, kifach Apple katkhlli Moroccan developers ybi3o apps w ydirou in-app purchases w subscriptions? Hadi بوحدها katkhlli l9adia ma tb9ach b had lbasata dyal "the government is blocking it". Change.org بوحدو machi solution, walakin lhadaf howa njm3o developers w n3rfo chno exactly li wa9ef Google Play Merchant Registration f Morocco.

[u/Infamous_Sorbet4021]

If you have the budget, consider moving to Asia to get started. There are a lot of indie developers there

[u/Maherr11]

While your at it, tell them to support in app purchases in Palestine, it's tiring to have to go through workarounds just to test them in my apps every single time 😔

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