The Android 17 location button and Google Play’s precise location rules

It is a system UI element the user taps to share precise location for the current session; access ends when the session closes. You add it with a Jetpack library, currently marked experimental, and declare the standard location permissions plus USE_LOCATION_BUTTON. You can change colors, outline, size, shape and pick the label from a predefined list such as “Use precise location”, but the location icon is mandatory and the font size is managed by the system. On Android 16 and lower the library shows the same button and falls back to the standard permission prompt, so you need no separate path.

If your app needs precise location only through the button, declare it in the manifest with the onlyForLocationButton flag on ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION. Google’s next steps: audit whether your app targets Android 17 and uses precise location for one-time tasks, add the flag, and check that the button follows Android design guidelines.

Persistent precise location stays allowed when it is essential to the app’s main purpose or a major feature promoted in your store listing, such as live tracking or navigation. In the declaration you pick the user-facing features that need it, for example search nearby, live tracking, navigation, geofencing, automated tagging, nearby devices on Android 11 and lower, browser location or network diagnostics, and explain why coarse location or the button is not enough. Location may never be requested only for ads or analytics, and location data may never be sold. Existing apps are not exempt: updates that don’t comply may be rejected.

January 27, 2027 also enforces the contacts rules, see Android Contact Picker and READ_CONTACTS, and removes geofencing as a foreground service use case. The full list is in Google Play policy updates 2026, and target SDK dates are in Google Play target API level.

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