In August 2022, we added columns related to orders with Play Points promotions to your downloadable estimated sales and earnings reports.
Google Play Points is a program that rewards users for engaging with the Play ecosystem. Selected developers are invited to provide app-specific Play Points promotions which provide even greater rewards, increasing user retention and reinvestment of points with their app.
What is the Google Play Points rewards program?
Users enrolled in the Google Play Points program earn points through purchases made on Google Play, including in-app items, movies, books (in selected countries), and subscriptions. They can also earn Play Points by downloading featured free apps and games. Weekly points events can boost their earning rates on movies, books (in selected countries), and select games.
Play Points can be redeemed for special in-app items, discounted app-specific coupons, Google Play Credit, or Donate on Play (in selected countries).
As users earn points, they can increase their level, which boosts their points earning rate and gives them access to perks like weekly prizes.
What are Google Play Points promotions?
Select developers can provide Google Play Points promotions that allow users to spend Play Points on app-specific rewards. There are two types of Google Play Points promotions:
- In-app products: Points are exchanged for an in-game item. We recommend that this item is exclusive to Play Points users as an extra incentive to engage with the program.
- Coupon promotions: Points are exchanged for a coupon that provides a discount on any purchase in your app or game above the value of the coupon. For example, a $2 coupon used on a $10 purchase would cost your users $8.
Promotions are surfaced to users in the Play Store on the Play Points Use tab, increasing the exposure of the app and encouraging users to re-invest their points. Apps that provide Play Points promotions typically see an increase in retention of monetized users.
Create in-app products and promotions
When creating in-app products and promotions, follow the requirements outlined below:
Name
- Use a name that is easily understood by users and Play Points members. Use a clear name to distinguish between similar items that have different functions in a game such as paid items and free items.
- Consider using different names for in-app products when they appear in Play Console and when they appear in your app after being purchased with Play Points:
- When setting up your in-app product in Play Console, make sure that the name doesn't mention Google, Play, or Play Points. Similarly, don't reference the name of your app. The Play Points program will automatically display your in-app product promotion under your app header.;
- In your app, we recommend that the name reference Google Play Points so users can easily understand where the item originated. Here's an example of in-app product naming for 50 gems:
- For Play Console and Play Points: “50 gems”
- In your app: “50 gems - from Play Points”
- Display names can be up to 55 characters but we recommend that you use 20 characters or less. This way it’s displayed on a single line in the Google Play app.
- Don't include "Google Play Points" in your in-app product or promotions.
- Avoid using unnecessary characters, including: "[]", "()", "*", "<>", "{}", "_".
Description
- Provide a product description to clarify the benefits and value of the item.
- Descriptions can be 200 characters or less (including spaces).
Icons
- Your in-app product or promotions requires a unique icon that best represents its content.
- If the item exists in your game, the icon should use the same visual used in the game.
- Artwork should be distinct to help users recognize that they are different items. This is especially true when a developer is submitting multiple items for an individual game.
Uploading icons
You can upload your icons in Play Console.
You can check the preview of your icon after it’s uploaded and you can then submit it to your Play Points promotion. Promotional artwork is reviewed during pre-publishing checks by Google. If the artwork does not pass the in-app product requirements, your promotion will be rejected. Note: Icons for coupon promotions are automatically generated by Google.
After an artwork is approved, Google generates a 1x mini card, 2x mini card, and a hexagon version of your icon.
Image requirements:
- Image size: 512px by 512px (min) to 1080px by 1080px (max)
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Main artworks should be centered and sized between; ~255px by ~255px (min) to ~537px by ~537px (max)
- File type: 32-bit PNG
- Resolution: 72 PPI
- Colorspace: sRGB
- Max file size: Up to 8 MB
Icon requirements
Main artwork
- Between ~255 by ~255 (minimum) to ~537 by ~537 (maximum)
- The safe zone is where the main artwork in your icon should be placed. Stay within the recommended bounds to prevent any unnecessary cropping of your artwork.
Background
- Between 512 by 512(minimum) and 1080 by 1080 (maximum)
- We recommend a simple pattern or solid color for the background so the icon is easy to read.
Icon tips
Use the recommended safe zone (255 x 255) for the size of the artwork. Don't use artwork that is cropped by more than 10%. Note that you can still crop your artwork but it should not be more than 10%.
View an example
Use a background that will complement your artwork. Avoid patterns with busy backgrounds, or backgrounds with the same color as your icon.
View an example
Use a background that has a different tone and color that contrasts with your icon. Avoid white borders or backgrounds since it is not visible.
View an example
Use simple patterns to highlight your icon. Busy patterns tend to take the focus away from your icon.
View an example
Avoid using text and numbers, promotional callouts, and branding.
View an example
Don’t use low-resolution image content and avoid using images that are too small.
View an example
View examples of Google-generated versions
1x mini cardSet up Google Play Points promotions
Enrollment in the Google Play Points program is currently available on an invite-only, application-specific basis. If you’re invited, you will see the Play Points page (Monetize > Products > Play Points) in the left menu, which will allow you to configure these promotions.
Notes:
- Before you can set up promotions, the developer account owner must accept the Google Play Points terms of service. The owner only needs to accept the terms once per developer account.
- You must have the Manage store presence permission to manage promotions.
- You can only configure one in-app product for one submitted or live Play Points promotion per country.
- You can have up to 10 offers (unlimited in-app product promotions, limited in-app product promotions, or coupons) per country at a time. If you exceed these limits and attempt to create more offers, you'll be unable to do so.
- We recommend providing at least one in-app product promotion as it usually has a greater impact on user retention.
Before you start, here are some important things to note:
- Promotions can be limited or unlimited. Limited promotions can be redeemed a fixed number of times per user and per country/region. Unlimited offers can be redeemed any number of times before the specified end date.
- A limited promotion requires a defined maximum quantity per user/region and a defined maximum quantity per user. You can use the default values provided or customize these numbers. The default maximum quantity per user is 1, for example, but you can choose any number between 1 and 5.
- Limited promotions will be labeled "limited quantity" and "running low" on Google Play when the promotion is about to reach the set quantity.
- You can edit a rejected offer to make it unlimited or limited.
To create a coupon promotion:
- Open Play Console and go to the Play Points page (Monetize > Products > Play Points).
- In the “Promotions” section:
- To create a coupon promotion, select Create promotion > Coupon.
- To create an in-app product, select Create promotion > In-app product.
- Choose your product promotion type by selecting Limited or Unlimited and define your promotion details.
- Click + Country/region, select the locations you want to make your promotion available in, and click Apply.
- We recommend targeting promotions to multiple countries/regions to reduce the number of promotions you need to manage.
- You cannot set up two promotions targeting the same country/region with the same coupon value or in-app product.
- Countries/regions are only selectable if the app you’re creating a promotion for is distributed there (either in production or via an open test).
- For in-app product promotions only: Use the Product selector to specify what product the user can exchange points for.
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In-app product promotions must meet user experience guidelines and will be reviewed before they're available on Google Play.
- Product price information can not be edited while the product is used in an active promotion.
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- Choose the start date and end date for your promotion.
- Unlimited promotions must run for a minimum of 180 days.
- Limited promotions have a duration of 1-180 days and their end date can't be extended.
- Promotions start at 0:00 and end at 23:59 on the start and end date using the timezone of the country or region the user is based in.
- Choose the discount rate for the promotion.
- The discount rate is applied to the coupon value or in-app product price as an additional user incentive for participating in the program.
- The required discount may differ based on the countries/regions you select.
- For coupon promotions only: Select the value of the coupon.
- Price tiers will be disabled if you do not have at least one in-app product worth more than the coupon promotion value in all targeted countries.
- Click Submit once you have reviewed your promotion settings; you won’t be able to edit it after submission.
- You can stop live promotions with a duration of at least 180 days through Play Console. You can stop live promotions with a duration of under 180 days by contacting the support address listed on the Play Points page.
Note: In-app promotions may take up to 10 days to be reviewed, approved, and made visible on Google Play. If your start date is more than ten days after submission, the promotion won’t be visible until the start date.
You can view details for an ongoing promotion:
- Open Play Console and go to the Play Points page (Monetize > Products > Play Points).
- In the “Promotions” section, click on the promotion you want to view.
- Browse the information on the Promotion details page. It contains your product information, the product promotion type, the maximum redemptions per country/region, the maximum redemptions per user, the end date, the discount rate, and the promotion's estimated value.
You can also view details for past promotions in the "Past promotions" section on the Play Points page.
The amount of Google Play Points that must be exchanged for a promotion is calculated based on:
- The value of the reward
- For in-app product promotions, this is the localized price of the in-app product
- For coupon promotions, this is the country-specific coupon value for the chosen price tier
- The discount rate
- Rounding rules
- The value of a point in the selected market
You can view the points cost of the promotion for each country in the Coupon value or Points value sections when configuring your promotion settings.
To make it easier to configure coupon promotions across multiple countries, coupon values are set by selecting a pricing tier that defines the value for all countries. Price tiers will be disabled if you do not have at least one in-app product worth more than the coupon promotion value in all targeted countries.
Google may update the individual country values for each price tier at any time. This will not affect the value of existing coupon promotions.
To ensure a smooth user experience after users exchange their points for your in-app product promotions, your app must meet the guidelines below before submitting promotions for review.
If your promotion does not meet these guidelines, it may be rejected. In this case, you’ll receive an Inbox notification and will need to resolve any issues before resubmitting the promotion.
Ensure the in-app product is available in production
In order to evaluate your in-app product redemption experience, the product must be available in your app’s latest production release, or open test release, if your app is not yet distributed to production.
Ensure availability without a restart
Users may already have your app open before exchanging their points for the in-app product on Google Play. Your app should check for a new in-app product without requiring a restart. Visit the Android Developers site for more information on how to fetch in-app products.
Clearly communicate in-app product redemptions
Users may already have your app open before exchanging their points for the in-app product on Google Play. Your app should check for a new in-app product without requiring a restart. Visit the Android Developers site for more information on how to communicate out-of-app purchases.
Provide descriptive product metadata
The product title and description should be translated in the markets that your promotion is available. We recommend using a title with a maximum of 20 characters.
The product icon must:
- Match the graphics used to represent the item in the app or game
- Be unique to each in-app product
- Not contain any textual descriptions, promotional badges, or branding badges
Frequently asked questions
How are Google Play Points promotion refunds handled?Read our policy on Google Play Points refunds.
If you already had Google Play Points promotions configured outside of the Play Console, you won’t be able to view or manage these promotions in Play Console. From the date that your existing promotions end, you can create, manage, and view new promotions in Play Console.
You can view this information in the columns related to orders with promotions in your downloadable estimated sales and earnings reports.
You can view the following columns in the estimated sales report:
- Promotion ID
- Coupon Value
- Discount Rate
You can view the following column in the earnings report:
- Promotion ID
Visit this Help Center page to learn more about downloading and exporting monthly reports.