In short
What is trader status for selling apps in the EU?
Trader status is the EU Digital Services Act requirement that anyone providing apps display their name, address, phone and email in the store. Apple removed apps without verified trader information from every EU storefront from 17 February 2025; the removal was automatic and applied even to apps that had not changed. Google Play requires the same declaration.
What is trader status, and why was it asked for?
The EU Digital Services Act requires that users can see who is offering a product or service on an online platform. App stores fall inside that: the name, address, phone and email of a developer providing an app in the course of a business must appear on the store page.
The stores turned this into a field in front of the developer and tied it to verification. Apps without the declaration, or whose declaration was not verified, were removed from sale in EU countries — Apple applied that removal from 17 February 2025, across all 27 EU storefronts.
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Who counts as a trader?
The test is activity, not income: if you provide the app while carrying on a trade, business, craft or profession, you are a trader. That definition can include a free app — a free app promoting a company's product is part of a commercial activity. An app published as a hobby, generating no income and attached to no business, usually falls outside it.
There are borderline cases, and the store does not decide for you; you make the declaration. So the decision is a legal one: if you are unsure, read the definition in the declaration form and take advice if needed. A wrong declaration carries a heavier consequence than a missing one.
Where does the declared information appear?
On the EU store page, publicly. Name, address, phone and email are listed on the app's product page — which is the point of the law: the user should see who they are buying from. For individual developers the consequence is plain: if the address given is a home address, that address becomes visible to everyone who sees the app.
The answer is not to hide the information but to separate the address. Incorporating, or obtaining a business address you may lawfully use, is the only durable route. A declaration made before taking that step cannot be undone — once published, the information has been collected.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Publishing in a company's name | Enter the registered name and address exactly |
| Individual, earning income | Make the trader declaration; settle the address question first |
| Hobby, no income | Read the definition and assess; no declaration if outside scope |
| Not selling in the EU | Turn off the app's availability in EU countries |
What if you do not sell in the EU?
Turning off availability in EU countries is a valid option and removes the declaration obligation. But the cost of that decision is larger than it looks: the EU is the second-largest region for app revenue globally, and reversing the switch later does not restore ranking instantly — visibility takes time to rebuild.
The practical approach: if you plan to keep the app in the EU, make the declaration today. If you do not, take the switch-off as a deliberate decision rather than a forgotten setting — because when removal runs automatically, most teams only notice months later from the install chart.
Sources
- 01DSA trader status required for apps in the EUApple · 2025
- 02Keeping your developer account information up to dateGoogle Play Console Help · 2026