Google Play referral compliance
A release checklist for Android referral rewards, Play promotions, and review evidence
This is product guidance, not legal advice or a guarantee of Play approval. Google updates its policies and evaluates each app in context. Have your team and counsel review your campaign, store listing, and terms before release.
Invitebase is designed to reward a validated product conversion, never an install, rating, review, or raw signup. This page is the release checklist for Android campaigns and the source of truth for the product guardrails in the dashboard.
Before you publish
- Reward the referrer only after genuine value. Use a server-verified event such as a paid subscription, completed onboarding plus retention, or another meaningful in-app conversion. Do not release a money reward from a click, install, signup, rating, or review.
- Give the new user a product benefit, not money. For Android, Invitebase blocks cash, gift-card, PayPal, Venmo, and ACH rewards for the referred user. Use a platform-compatible offer code, free access, or an in-app benefit instead.
- Keep the choice and the terms clear. The user must choose to follow the referral and install or open the app. State eligibility, the qualification action, what each party receives, expiry, and any regional restrictions before redemption.
- Do not ask for ratings or reviews in exchange for value. Google prohibits incentivized ratings and reviews, and it prohibits an app whose main function is incentivizing people to install other apps. Read Google's User Ratings, Reviews, and Installs policy and App promotion policy for the current wording.
- Keep delivery server-side. Use a signed reward webhook or the validated offer-code delivery path. A client must not be able to self-claim a valuable reward.
Play promo-code operating limits
Google Play promo codes are a useful delivery mechanism, but they are not unlimited inventory:
| Promotion | Current Play limit | Invitebase guidance |
|---|---|---|
| One-time product or paid-app codes | 500 per app per quarter | Import and reserve them as a small, platform-specific pool. |
| One-time subscription codes | 10,000 per subscription product per quarter | Import codes into an Android-only pool; reserve one only after validation. |
| Subscription custom codes | 2,000–99,999 redemptions | Use only for new subscribers and only where in-app redemption fits the campaign. |
One-time use codes can be redeemed in the Play Store or in the app; subscription custom codes are redeemed in the app. Promotions can run for up to one year, and unused one-time codes do not carry into the next quarter. Google documents the details in Create promotions and Promo codes.
Use the Google Play promo-code guide for the supported manual Android code-pool flow. It keeps inventory and platform routing deterministic without assuming parity with App Store Connect.
Required customer Play Console check
Invitebase cannot submit a customer's Android app on its behalf. Before a live rollout, the app owner should record this evidence in their own Play Console:
- Run the complete referral flow with an internal-testing build: share, user-chosen Play install or app open, identified user, qualification event, and reward delivery.
- Confirm the referred user receives only the disclosed product benefit and that a referrer payment does not release until the configured conversion validates.
- Confirm any promo code matches the Android package, product, eligibility, and promotion expiry, then redeem it through the supported Play or in-app flow.
- Review the displayed campaign copy, official terms, store listing, and any affiliate creative against the current Play policies.
- Preserve the test result and submit the production build through the account owner's normal Play review process before enabling live rewards.
If a campaign cannot pass every item, keep it in test mode or use a web-only campaign until it can.