Comply with Google Play’s Families Policy using AdMob

This article explains how to comply with Google Play's Families policy when serving ads in apps that target children.

If your app targets children as an audience and you show ads in your app, you need to ensure your app complies with Google Play’s Families policy. AdMob offers the following tools for publishers to show ads that are compliant with Google Play’s Families policy. 

Note: AdMob publishers are required to adhere to the AdMob and AdSense policies. Additionally, advertisements must comply with applicable laws and regulations (including any relevant self-regulatory or industry guidelines).

Note that Google Play recently updated the Families Policy to clarify that if one of the target audiences for your app is children, your app must not transmit certain identifiers (including the advertising ID) for children or users of unknown age.

Update your SDK to Android 20.6.0 GMA SDK or later and/or iOS GMA SDK 7.67.0 to ensure that the advertising ID is not transmitted when an ad request is tagged for child-directed treatment. You can also choose to disable the advertising ID for your entire app by preventing the advertising ID permission from being merged into your app.

Apps designed specifically for children

If you select only child age groups in the Target Audience and Content section of the Google Play Console,  AdMob will automatically begin serving Families policy-compliant ads for all ad requests coming from the app.

Ads that are deemed child- and family-friendly are a subset of the broader ads pool. If your app was not previously targeting only child age groups, you might notice fewer filled impressions after you update your target audience.

Apps for everyone, including children and families 

If you select child and older age groups in the Target Audience and Content section of the Google Play Console, including children and families, you’ll need to include code that calls the setTagForChildDirectedTreatment()method for ad requests served to children and specifies the maximum ad content rating. 

Note: Learn about additional ways to stay compliant with Google Play’s Families policy. 

Code sample for implementation in apps for everyone, including children and families

Use the following code sample to invoke setMax_ad_content_rating() and setTagForChildDirectedTreatment() to send child-directed ad requests in a mixed-audience app:

RequestConfiguration requestConfiguration = MobileAds.getRequestConfiguration()
    .toBuilder()
    .setTagForChildDirectedTreatment(
        RequestConfiguration.TAG_FOR_CHILD_DIRECTED_TREATMENT_TRUE)
    .setMaxAdContentRating(RequestConfiguration.MAX_AD_CONTENT_RATING_G)
    .build();
MobileAds.setRequestConfiguration(requestConfiguration);

The setMax_ad_content_rating() method is invoked with the value MAX_AD_CONTENT_RATING_G. Additionally, the tagForChildDirectedTreatment() method is invoked with the value true. The RequestConfiguration object should then be passed to MobileAds.setRequestConfiguration() prior to loading ads. Then, all future ad loads will be compliant with the Families policies.

If you are using Ad Manager rather than AdMob, you can construct a AdManagerAdRequest rather than an AdRequest by using the corresponding methods in the AdManagerAdRequest.Builder class.

Note: AdMob is not responsible for webview content. It is solely the developers’ responsibility to ensure ads on webview follow Google Play policy.

Comply with Google Play’s Families Policies using AdMob Mediation 

All Android apps classified as Families must use a Google Play Families self-certified ads SDK or mediation platform when serving ads to children or users of unknown age. To ensure your compliance with Play, AdMob will automatically block any ad sources that haven’t been self-certified by Google Play from serving ads in apps that are designed specifically for children, or in apps for everyone with setTagForChildDirectedTreatment(true).

In most cases, you’ll be alerted in your AdMob account if the ad source you are using is not a self-certified ads source and you selected only child age groups in the Target Audience and Content section of the Google Play Console. Ad serving will continue from self-certified ad sources.

Custom events that target apps classified as Families need to use Families self-certified ad sources. To stay compliant with Google Play policy, you must ensure that your custom events only use Families self-certified ad sources.

Some publishers may be interested in using AdMob Mediation for apps that include children as an audience. 

If you want to use AdMob to mediate, you must configure your mediation group to only use Families self-certified ads SDKs. 

Note: Given that the advertising relationship in AdMob Mediation is between the developer and the third-party ad network, and AdMob simply serves as a platform, it is the developer's responsibility to ensure that the third-party ad network serves ads that are compliant with the Designed for Families policies.

Apps designed specifically for children

Apps that select only child age groups in the Target Audience and Content section of the Google Play Console, must only use Google Play Families self-certified ads SDKs to fill ad requests.

For your app to receive Families policy-compliant ads from third-party ad networks, you will need to call setTagForChildDirectedTreatment(true) and set max_ad_content_rating to G for every ad request. Also, the third-party ad networks you select must serve Families policy-compliant ads.

The Google Mobile Ads SDK will forward ad requests to third-party ad networks to serve Designed for Families policy-compliant ads. It is the developer's responsibility to ensure that the third-party ad networks serve ads that are compliant with the Families policies.

Apps for everyone, including children and families 

Apps that select child and older age groups in the Target Audience and Content section of the Google Play Console, including children and families, must use a Google Play Families self-certified ads SDK to fill ad requests when serving ads to children or users of unknown age.

For ad requests that are served to children or users of unknown age, in order to receive Google Play’s Families policy-compliant ads from third-party ad networks, you will need to call setTagForChildDirectedTreatment(true) and set max_ad_content_rating to G for every ad request.

The Google Mobile Ads SDK will forward ad requests to third-party ad networks to serve Families policy-compliant ads. It is the developer's responsibility to ensure that the third-party ad networks serve ads that are compliant with the Families policies.

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Learn more about the Families program at Google Developers.