Google Play · Indie dev · Sole proprietor · 2026-09
Studio Toriumi is a one-person studio in Japan that ships Android apps on Google Play, including a face-and-name memory trainer and a TOEFL vocabulary app. This is the path we actually took, in the order we took it.
The short version: Google is genuinely generous to solo developers. The fee is paid once, the tools are free, and reviews come back in days. There are two hurdles on the way, though: the 12-tester rule and the fact that monetizing puts your address on the store. How we got past both is the point of this page.
TL;DR
1. Registering as a Google Play developer costs a one-time $25. There is no annual fee.
2. Personal accounts created after November 2023 must run a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 consecutive days before they can publish to production.
3. Once you monetize (paid apps or in-app purchases), your name and address are shown on the store. For a personal account, that is your home.
4. Registering as a sole proprietor, getting a D-U-N-S number under a trade name and a virtual-office address, and switching to an organization account puts the business name and office address on the store instead, and the 12-tester rule no longer applies.
Compare the two big app stores and Google's low barrier stands out. Apple's Developer Program costs $99 every year, and your apps disappear if you stop paying. Google Play asks for $25 once and never again. That is a price a student or someone with a day job can afford to experiment with.
The tooling is free too. Android Studio costs nothing, and the Flutter and Kotlin docs are open to everyone. Plug in an Android phone over USB (we tested on a Pixel) and your app is running in seconds. AdMob handles ads and Google Play Billing handles payments, so you never have to build a checkout yourself.
Review is quick as well. Our updates typically cleared in one to three days, and rejections come with a reason you can fix and resubmit. For letting the person who built an app put it straight into people's hands around the world, Google Play is the most open place we know.
In November 2023 Google added a condition to that open door. New personal accounts must pass a closed test before applying for production access. The original bar was 20 testers; in December 2024 it was lowered to 12.
Personal-account requirements (checked 2026-09)
The intent makes sense. Apps that have never been in anyone's hands tend to crash, fail to load, or turn out to be empty shells. Google is essentially saying: have a few real people use it for two weeks first. As a quality filter for the store, that is reasonable.
For an individual, though, it is a real burden. Finding twelve Android users with Google accounts and asking them not to drop out for two weeks is hard if you do not have a big circle of friends. Tester-swap communities exist, but you have to go through it again for every new app.
The key detail: this rule applies only to personal accounts. Organization accounts are exempt, which is why the trade-name route below also solves this hurdle.
Once your app is live, you will probably want to earn from it. As soon as you set up paid apps or in-app purchases, your app's store listing shows the developer's name and address. This follows consumer-protection laws such as the EU Digital Services Act.
From a buyer's point of view that is fair: you have a right to know who you are paying and where they are. But on a personal account, the address shown is your home. If you live with family or simply do not want to be located, that is a serious problem.
The mistake we made
We turned on monetization while still on a personal account and only noticed the address afterwards. Google support told us that monetization cannot be switched off once enabled. The only way to hide the address is to convert to an organization account. If you are just starting, read section 04 before you monetize.
You do not need a company to get an organization account. A sole proprietor with a trade name and a D-U-N-S number can apply. The store then shows the trade name and the registered business address. Make that address a virtual office, and your home stays private. Here is the order we followed. Many people report getting stuck when they do these steps out of order.
Once approved, the store shows the trade name and the virtual-office address, and as an organization account you are exempt from the 12-tester rule. The same D-U-N-S number also works for Apple Developer and Chrome Web Store organization enrollment, so you only do this once.
What it cost us
Keeping a home address off a public store page, and never having to recruit twelve testers again, made this an easy call.