Freecash, the rewarded user acquisition app operated by Berlin-based Almedia GmbH, was reinstated to the Google Play Store on May 6, 2026, ending a period of Android unavailability that had disrupted what the company describes as one of the largest rewarded user acquisition platforms in mobile advertising. The Apple App Store reinstatement remains unresolved, leaving the iOS channel - where Freecash spent months at the top of the US charts - still offline.

The update came through a communication sent on May 8, 2026, from James Lynch of Arena Advisory Group to PPC Land, referencing its prior coverage of the situation. "As of May 6, Freecash is back on the Google Play Store," the communication states. "We are pleased to see Freecash reinstated on Android platforms following Google's thorough review. We want to thank our users, advertisers, and partners for their patience and support. Our team is continuing to work with Apple on our App Store reinstatement."

Neither Google nor Apple has issued a public statement explaining either the original removal or the subsequent reinstatement. Google's review process was described in Almedia's communication as "thorough," though no technical specifics about the review criteria or timeline were provided.

A removal sparked by media coverage

To understand what the reinstatement means, it is necessary to trace how the removals came about. PPC Land reported on April 14, 2026 that Apple removed Freecash from the iOS App Store without advance notice. At that point, only the iOS app had been taken down. The removal disrupted a platform that, according to Almedia's own disclosures, had attracted more than 60 million registered users worldwide, reached No. 2 in the US App Store overall chart, and was paying out more than $1 million per day to users.

Within days, the situation escalated. PPC Land subsequently reported that the Android version was also removed from Google Play, meaning Freecash was simultaneously unavailable through both major app distribution channels. By April 16, 2026, Almedia's founder and chief executive, Moritz Holländer, had published a detailed statement on the company website framing the removals as a direct consequence of media coverage rather than an internally initiated policy action by either platform. Holländer described that coverage as containing "a number of inaccurate and misleading claims" about the business, and confirmed that the company was "actively working with both Apple and Google to resolve this."

The dual removal affected a platform of considerable scale. By the time both apps were pulled, Freecash had accumulated more than 70 million registered users worldwide and more than 350,000 Google Play reviews at a 4.5-star average. The iOS app had more than 150,000 App Store reviews at a 4.7-star average before its removal. In 2026 alone, according to Holländer's statement, 19 million new users had joined the platform.

What Freecash actually does

Freecash operates within a category Almedia calls rewarded user acquisition. The commercial model differs from traditional paid install campaigns in one key respect: advertisers - primarily mobile game publishers and retailers - pay only when users complete meaningful in-app actions after installation, such as reaching a specific level in a game or making a purchase. Almedia then shares a portion of that revenue with the users who completed the tasks. The arrangement creates a three-way relationship between the platform, the advertiser, and the end user.

According to Holländer's April 16 statement, Almedia operates with more than 150 employees across five offices. The company's advertising budget, as disclosed in the same statement, exceeded $300 million annually across channels including Google, Meta, DSPs, television, and influencer partnerships. In 2026 alone, according to Holländer's earlier April 14 LinkedIn post, the company spent more than $100 million on user acquisition - a figure tied directly to the assumption that the iOS market was stable and open to the rewarded model.

That assumption rested on a 2025 Apple guideline change. In mid-2025, Apple updated section 3.2.2.(x) of its App Store guidelines to explicitly permit the rewarded model. Following that update, Almedia rebuilt Freecash entirely - acquiring an existing rewards app, migrating its user base, and building what it described as a product with "an entirely new experience, reward system, and proprietary technology." The company's heavy spending in 2026 was predicated on that guideline update being a durable signal of platform acceptance.

The April 2026 removal called that assumption into question. The reinstatement on Google Play on May 6 partially restores the picture, though the iOS channel remains unavailable.

The affiliate advertising problem

One disclosure in Holländer's April 16 statement is particularly relevant to understanding why the removals occurred in the way they did. The statement acknowledged that some third-party affiliates within Freecash's affiliate marketing program created TikTok advertisements with what Holländer described as "exaggerated or misleading claims" earlier in 2026. "We apologize to our users for the confusion and disappointment this may have caused," the statement said. The company indicated those ads had been identified and removed, and that Almedia had supported the platforms' decisions to take them down.

Following that episode, Almedia established Partner Advertising Guidelines at freecash.com/en/policies/partner-advertiser-policy, specifying approved messaging and a list of prohibited claims, with active monitoring of affiliate output as an ongoing commitment. The existence of a third-party affiliate channel running misleading ads is separate from the question of whether Freecash's core product model is compliant with store policies. But the combination - media coverage disputing the business's core claims, plus confirmed affiliate-generated misleading ads - created a context in which both platforms initiated reviews.

It is worth noting that industry observers had flagged the ambiguity of how platform policies map onto the rewarded model specifically. A comment on Holländer's LinkedIn post, attributed to Florian Geldner, identified as a Senior Product Manager, pointed out that Freecash occupies a position "somewhere in between rewarded video" and offerwalls - a category Apple banned in 2011 but Google has not. That framing suggests the policy questions around the model are not entirely resolved, even as Google has now concluded its review and reinstated the Android app.

Scale of disruption for advertisers

The commercial significance of the removal - and therefore of the reinstatement - extends well beyond Almedia itself. Mobile game publishers and retailers that used Freecash as a rewarded UA channel lost access to a performance-based acquisition mechanism that, according to Almedia, delivered meaningful post-install engagement rather than simple install volume. Freecash reached the top of the US App Store charts through what Holländer described as "substantial, sustained investment in paid user acquisition," and its position in AppsFlyer's 2025 Performance Index confirmed its standing as a growing player in the rewarded platform segment.

The original Apple removal on April 13, 2026, arrived without the advance notice or detailed policy citation that advertisers and developers typically rely upon when planning campaigns. Holländer's statement on April 14 described the removal as arriving without "proper explanation or heads up," and noted that "App Store Connect console showed the app's status as 'Removed from App Store'" with no specific guideline subsection cited. For advertisers who had committed UA budgets based on the stability of the channel, the removal created immediate disruption - budgets already committed, campaigns mid-flight, with no clear timeline for resolution.

Google Play's reinstatement on May 6 restores the Android channel after approximately three weeks of dual unavailability. The gap between the Google Play removal (during the week of April 14) and the Google Play reinstatement (May 6) represents roughly three weeks of Android absence. During that period, according to Almedia, the platform remained accessible via mobile web for existing users, though the company acknowledged that a web experience does not replicate native app engagement or discoverability.

What Google's review process involved

Google has not described what its review covered or what standard the app was required to meet for reinstatement. The phrase "Google's thorough review," sourced from Almedia's May 8 communication, is the only characterization available. Platform review processes for app reinstatement differ from advertiser account reinstatement processes, though both involve appeals and evidence submission. Google's advertiser reinstatement documentation states that "accounts are only reinstated in compelling circumstances, such as in the case of a mistake" - language that applies to advertising accounts specifically, not necessarily to Play Store app listings, but which reflects the generally cautious posture Google takes toward reinstatement decisions.

The absence of any public statement from Google means the specific basis for the original removal and the subsequent reinstatement is not on the record. What is clear is that the review concluded in Freecash's favor for the Android platform, and that the process - from the Google Play removal during the week of April 14 to reinstatement on May 6 - took approximately three weeks.

iOS still pending

The Apple situation remains open. According to Almedia's May 8 communication, "Our team is continuing to work with Apple on our App Store reinstatement." Apple has not communicated publicly about the removal or its timeline for review. Holländer's April 16 statement expressed confidence in a positive outcome, but the iOS channel has now been offline longer than the Android channel was. Freecash's iOS presence had been particularly significant: the app reached No. 2 in the US App Store overall chart in early 2026 and generated the majority of the platform's disclosed user acquisition investment.

The asymmetry between the two outcomes - Google completing its review and reinstating within roughly three weeks, Apple still ongoing - may reflect differences in how each platform structures its review and appeals processes, or differences in the specific concerns each platform raised. Neither company has provided enough public information to determine which.

The Apple App Tracking Transparency framework has already generated regulatory friction in Europe. The French competition authority ruled in March 2025 that ATT's implementation was anticompetitive, a finding that adds broader regulatory context to Apple's approach to app governance in the period when the Freecash removals occurred.

Why this matters for mobile advertising

The Freecash situation sits at the intersection of several tensions that matter to the mobile advertising community. First, it illustrates the dependence of large-scale rewarded UA strategies on platform policy stability. Almedia committed more than $100 million in a single year on the basis of a guideline change that appeared to settle the question of the rewarded model's permissibility. The removal showed that guideline stability and operational continuity are distinct things: a platform can update its written guidelines in favor of a business model while still removing specific apps that draw regulatory or reputational attention.

Second, the episode raises questions about affiliate channel governance. Almedia's disclosure that third-party affiliates ran misleading TikTok ads in its name - ads it says it identified and removed - points to a structural challenge for large rewarded platforms that rely on affiliate networks to drive user acquisition. When affiliates create content that misrepresents the parent platform, the reputational consequences flow upward. Almedia's response - establishing published Partner Advertising Guidelines with prohibited claims - represents one approach to formalizing affiliate governance, but the episode suggests the challenge is not hypothetical.

Third, the two-platform removal, followed by reinstatement on one and ongoing review on the other, highlights the different governance rhythms of the App Store and Google Play. For advertisers building campaigns that span both platforms, the divergence in timeline and outcome creates complexity in budget and channel planning.

The marketing community watching this development should note that the Google Play reinstatement does not resolve the iOS situation, does not provide a detailed explanation of what the review covered, and does not clarify whether the conditions that led to the original removals have been formally addressed or simply reviewed and found acceptable. What has changed, concretely, is that as of May 6, 2026, Freecash is available to Android users through the Play Store again.

Timeline

  • February 3, 2026 - Almedia publishes press release confirming Freecash global iOS App Store rankings and 60 million registered users worldwide
  • April 13, 2026 - Apple removes Freecash from the iOS App Store without prior notice or detailed explanation
  • April 14, 2026 - Moritz Holländer publishes statement on LinkedIn disclosing the iOS removal; PPC Land reports the removal, noting over $100 million in 2026 UA spend at risk
  • Week of April 14, 2026 - Google Play also removes the Freecash Android app following media coverage; by this point, the app has more than 70 million registered users globally
  • April 16, 2026 - Holländer publishes a full founder statement on almedia.co, disputing media coverage as containing "inaccurate and misleading claims," confirming active engagement with both Apple and Google to resolve the situation
  • April 16, 2026 - PPC Land reports the dual removal and Holländer's response, documenting the $300 million annual advertising budget disclosure, the affiliate misleading ads acknowledgment, and the scale of the platform
  • May 6, 2026 - Freecash is reinstated to the Google Play Store following Google's review; Apple App Store reinstatement remains unresolved
  • May 8, 2026 - James Lynch of Arena Advisory Group notifies PPC Land of the Google Play reinstatement, confirming Apple discussions are ongoing

Summary

Who: Almedia GmbH, a Berlin-based advertising technology company founded by Moritz Holländer and Jan Sommerfeld, operating the Freecash rewarded user acquisition platform with more than 70 million registered users and over 150 employees across five offices. Arena Advisory Group communicated the update to PPC Land on the company's behalf.

What: Freecash was reinstated to the Google Play Store on May 6, 2026, following a removal that had left the Android app unavailable for approximately three weeks. The Apple App Store reinstatement remains pending, with Almedia continuing discussions with Apple. Google conducted what Almedia described as a "thorough review" before reinstating the app.

When: The Google Play reinstatement took effect on May 6, 2026. The original Android removal occurred during the week of April 14, 2026. The Apple removal preceded it, occurring on April 13, 2026, and that channel remains offline. The update was communicated to PPC Land on May 8, 2026.

Where: The reinstatement affects global availability of Freecash on Android through the Google Play Store. Almedia is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. The platform had active users across more than 100 countries and had ranked in the top iOS App Store charts in more than a dozen markets in January 2026.

Why: Both apps were removed following media coverage that Almedia's CEO disputed as inaccurate and misleading. Almedia separately acknowledged that third-party affiliates in its marketing program had created misleading TikTok ads earlier in 2026. Google completed its review and determined the app could be reinstated. Apple's review is ongoing. The episode reflects broader tensions in the rewarded UA category around platform governance, affiliate channel control, and the durability of policy signals for large-scale mobile advertising investments.

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