Hello Google Gemini API Team,
I am requesting help with a Gemini API access restriction affecting my academic Firebase project.
Google AI Studio currently shows:
When my Android application uses Firebase AI Logic with the Gemini Developer API, I receive:
403 PERMISSION_DENIED
“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”
I have already checked my Firebase configuration, including:
-
Gemini Developer API enabled
-
Firebase AI Logic API enabled
-
Firebase App Check configured
-
Firebase App Check Debug Provider successfully obtains an App Check token
The project is being used for a student capstone project at Pampanga State Agricultural University. The application is an educational wood-identification app that uses Gemini to analyze photographs and identify a limited list of 30 wood species.
This is a low-volume academic prototype and is not being used for commercial activity, bulk requests, scraping, or other automated high-volume usage.
Could you please review the restriction on this project and explain why its Billing Tier is shown as “Unavailable” and its Status as “Restricted”?
If the restriction was applied by an automated verification system, I would appreciate a manual review and restoration of eligible Gemini API access.
I can provide additional project information privately if needed.
Thank you.
Hi @JOHN_MARK_FERNANDEZ
Getting a 403 API error response and / or seeing “Unavailable” next to your project in AI audio indicates a flag has been placed on your account. To proceed:
-
If you’re on the free tier with no billing attached, please try the below steps:
-
Check Model Availability & Rate Limits:
- Ensure that the model you are requesting is available on your current plan. For example, not all models are available on the free tier. You can verify model availability, quotas, and limits on the AI Studio Rate Limit dashboard.
-
Ensure you have completed age verification by navigating to Google Account Age Verification and verifying date of birth in Google Account Personal Info.
-
Complete Phone Verification and turn on 2-Step Verification (2SV) on the Google Account associated with your project.
-
Once age, phone and 2sv are configured, retry your request or create a new API key in Google AI Studio.
-
If completing these steps still does not restore access (or if using a model requiring a paid tier), you might want to consider adding prepayment credits directly in Google AI Studio and/ or attaching a Google Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud Console. Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota.
-
If you are on a paid tier:
-
Check for banners / error callouts in the AI Studio Projects page & the Billing page. Mostly these flags cause visible banners or other errors on these pages with concrete next steps / appeal links. You can also check the email address associated with your project for information on next steps.
-
If your GCP project/ billing account is suspended, you must submit an appeal directly through the Google Cloud Console following the Project Suspension Guidelines (Help Center)
Hello Payal,
Thank you for the instructions. I have completed the recommended verification steps:
- Age verification: completed / no verification required
- Phone verification: completed
- 2-Step Verification: enabled
- Model availability: Gemini 3.8 Flash is available and works in Google AI Studio Playground
- Rate Limits: checked, but the project shows no usage data
- Firebase App Check: successfully receiving an App Check token
However, my Google AI Studio project Wood Identification App still shows:
Billing Tier: Unavailable
Status: Restricted
My Firebase Android application continues to receive:
403 PERMISSION_DENIED — “Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”
This is an academic capstone project for Pampanga State Agricultural University and is intended for low-volume educational use.
Could you please perform a manual review of the restriction or advise me on what specifically needs to be changed to restore Gemini API access?
Thank you.