Transferring ownership of a Play Console developer account

The owner of a Play Console developer account can transfer ownership of the account to another existing user. The prospective owner must provide and verify identity information as part of the process.

How to change the owner of an account

Follow the steps below to transfer ownership of your Google Play Console developer account.

Step 1: Initiate the transfer

Only the account owner can transfer ownership of a developer account.

1. Log in to Play Console.
2. Navigate to the Users and permissions page.
3. Locate the team member you wish to designate as the new owner and select Manage.
4. On the user’s details page, select Make account owner.

• Note: Some users may not be eligible for ownership. For instance, a user cannot become an owner if they already own a Play Console account associated with the same Google Account. Play Console will provide specific feedback if a user is ineligible.

Step 2: Select the type of owner switch

The requirements for transferring the owner of a developer account depend on the account type:

Organization accounts

If the developer account is registered to an organization, you must specify the new owner's relationship to the entity:

• Same organization: If the team member belongs to the same organization, they can reuse the existing account information.
• New organization: If they belong to a different entity, they must select their Google payments profile. The payment profile is used for identity verification. 

Important note regarding Google payment profiles: For transfers within the same organization, the current owner must ensure the prospective owner has access to the relevant payment profiles (e.g., those used for identity verification or merchant monetization). You won't be able to transfer ownership until this access is granted.

To resolve this, the current owner should log in to the Google Payments Center and add the prospective owner’s Google account to the required profiles. Play Console will list these profiles to help you understand which ones need to be accessible by the prospective owner. 

Individual accounts

If the developer account is registered to an individual, the prospective owner must select or create a new payment profile as part of the transfer. In this context, the payment profile is used strictly for identity verification.

Step 3: Confirm and submit

Once the required information is provided, select Submit account owner transfer.

Review the transfer details. Select Confirm and submit to initiate the transfer, or select Cancel transferring ownership to abort the process.

Step 4: The 7-day cool-off period

After the transfer is initiated:

• Notifications: The current owner and all admins who have access to all apps will receive a confirmation email. All team members of the account will receive a notification in Play Console.
• Security hold: The transfer will be placed on hold for 7 days.
• Cancellations: During this period, any user on the account can cancel the request from the Users and permissions page. This safeguard protects against errors or unauthorized account hijack attempts.

Step 5: Completing the transfer

Once the 7-day cool-off period expires, the prospective owner will receive an email invitation to finalize the process. The provided link will direct them to the Users and permissions page to complete the required steps. If the prospective owner decides not to proceed, they may cancel the transfer directly from this page. Once the prospective owner starts the transfer process, other users in the account cannot cancel the transfer.

To officially take ownership, the prospective owner will be guided through a setup wizard. They may need to provide or verify the following information:

1. Payments profile selection
   • Create or select an existing payment profile (for identify verification purposes)
2. Organization details (only for organization accounts)
   • Organization type and size
   • Organization phone number
   • Organization website (optional)
3. How Google contacts you
   • Contact name
   • Contact email address, verified by one-time password
   • Preferred language
   • Contact phone number, verified by one-time password
4. How users contact you
   • Developer phone number
   • Developer email address

• Note: The information collected during this process is identical to the data required when creating a new Play Console account. You can learn more about data and verification requirements here.

Identity verification

As part of the transfer, the prospective owner may be required to submit identity documents to verify the account. If this is necessary, Google will send a follow-up email with specific instructions on how to upload these documents in Play Console.

Take care to follow the guidance closely as providing unsupported documents will result in your identity information being rejected.

Eligibility and restrictions

Who can transfer ownership?

Developers with organization accounts or non-monetizing personal accounts may switch account owners, provided they submit all required information and successfully complete the necessary identity verifications.

• Note for monetizing personal accounts: Individual developers who monetize their apps are currently ineligible for this direct transfer process. Instead, you must create a new developer account and transfer your existing apps to it. Learn more about the app transfer process.

Why a transfer might be blocked

An account owner switch may be restricted or blocked if any of the following conditions apply:

• Account non-compliance: The account has outstanding verification requirements or is not in good standing.
• Active account changes: There is a pending change to the Google payments profile, a transition between account types (e.g. individual to organization), a pending upload key reset, or an app transfer is currently in progress.
• Prospective owner conflict: The designated new owner already owns a separate Play Console account.