Using Google Play's billing system, you can offer in-app products that charge users on a one-time basis. In-app products can include items like virtual goods (for example, game levels or potions) and premium services within your app on Google Play.
You can also create a subscription, which charges users on a recurring basis.
Important: Google Play Developer Program Policies and service fees apply to both in-app products and subscriptions.
Availability
If you're in a supported location for merchant registration, you can use Google Play's billing system.
If you’re in a supported location and want to start using Google Play's billing system features in your apps, set up a payments profile and learn about setting up Google Play's billing system on the Android Developers site.
To be available for purchase, an in-app product needs to be active and its app needs to be targeted to the user's country or region. An in-app product will be available for purchase as long as it's active, even if its app is unpublished. You must deactivate an in-app product if you don't want it to be available.
If you’re using a test account, go to the Android Developers site to learn more about testing your Google Play Billing Library integration.
After you create an in-app product, it’s available for users running the latest version of Google Play Store.
Note: This Play Console availability may make the SKU available for users to purchase directly from Games Home in the Play Store – rather than from within your app – as part of the Cart Abandonment Reminder feature, which nudges users to complete previously abandoned purchases. (Learn more about purchases made outside your app here.) This feature is on by default for all developers.
To opt your app out of the Cart Abandonment Reminder feature, please submit this form.
Required permissions
To offer an in-app product, you need to declare the com.android.vending.BILLING permission in your app’s APK manifest file. If you distribute your app globally, you can still publish apps that use com.android.vending.BILLING permission in all countries.
Create in-app products
Create a single in-app product
- Product IDs must start with a number or lowercase letter and can contain numbers (0-9), lowercase letters (a-z), underscores (_), and periods (.).
- You can’t change or reuse a product ID after the product has been created.
- Note: The product ID
android.testis unavailable for use, along with all product IDs that start withandroid.test.
To create an in-app product, do the following steps:
- Open Play Console.
- Go to the In-app products page (Monetize with Play > Products > In-app products).
- Click Create product.
- Enter your product details.
- Product ID: A unique ID for your in-app product.
- Title: A short name of the item (up to 55 characters, but we recommend limiting titles to 25 characters to display properly in all contexts), like "Sleeping potion."
- Description: A long description of the item (up to 200 characters), like "Instantly puts creatures to sleep."
- Icon: A unique and accurate image for your product. Don't include text, promotions, or branding. Your product icon is shown on your store listing and during the purchase flow.
- 32-bit PNG
- 512 x 512 pixels
- Up to 1 MB
- Price: Enter a price in your local currency or select a pricing template.
- Multi-quantity: Allow multi-quantity checkout for this product. Users will be able to purchase in multiple quantities within the threshold of their country or region. Note the following information:
- To configure multi-quantity checkout in Play Console, your app needs Google Play Billing Library 4.0. Visit the Android Developers site to learn how to integrate the Google Play Billing Library into your app.
- Multi-quantity checkout is not available in some countries or regions.
- In most countries or regions where multi-quantity checkout is available, the SKU price threshold is around USD 100. To allow multi-quantity checkout, you will need to adjust the price (before tax) to below the threshold in each country or region.
- Play Points exclusive: Make your product available only in Google Play Points.
- Save your changes and click Activate to make your in-app product available to users.
Languages and translations
In-app products use the same default language as their app. To add translations in specific languages, select an in-app product, and then click Manage translations and apply the languages you want. To learn more about how to provide a localized experience for your users, see Translate and localize your app.
Create a batch of multiple in-app products
Upload a CSV file of in-app products
To upload a CSV file, do the following steps:
- Open Play Console.
- Go to In-app products page (Monetize with Play > Products > In-app products).
- Click Import.
- Importing multiple products by uploading a CSV file will overwrite existing products only if the value of a
Product IDin the CSV file matches theProduct IDof an existing in-app product in the product list. Overwriting a product doesn't delete in-app products that aren't included in the CSV.
- Importing multiple products by uploading a CSV file will overwrite existing products only if the value of a
- Drop your CSV file to upload or click Upload.
Export a CSV file of existing in-app products
To export a CSV file, do the following steps:
- Open Play Console.
- Go to In-app products page (Monetize with Play > Products > In-app products).
- Click Export.
View a CSV file example
- The first example defines a title and description in two different languages (
en_USandes_ES). A pricing template defines the item's price. - The second example doesn't use a pricing template. Instead, it specifies a price for the default country (US). Play Console uses current exchange rates and locally relevant pricing patterns to automatically set the prices in all other countries where the app is distributed.
- The third example doesn't use a pricing template either. The item's price is specified manually for each country where the app is distributed.
CSV syntax example
Product ID,Published State,Purchase Type,Auto Translate,Locale; Title; Description,Auto Fill Prices,Price,Pricing Template IDIn-app product examples
Example 1
basic_sleeping_potion,published,managed_by_android,false,en_US; Basic Sleeping Potion; Puts small creatures to sleep.; es_ES; Poción básica de dormir; Causa las criaturas pequeñas ir a dormir.,false,,4637138456024710495
Example 2
standard_sleeping_potion, published,managed_by_android,false,en_US; Standard Sleeping Potion; Puts all creatures to sleep for 2 minutes.,true, 1990000,
Example 3
invisibility_potion,published, managed_by_android,false,en_US; Invisibility Potion; Invisible to all enemies for 5 minutes.,false, US; 1990000; BR; 6990000; RU; 129000000; IN; 130000000; ID; 27000000000; MX; 37000000,
Data values for CSV files
Product ID |
Setting this value in the CSV file has the same effect as entering a Product ID when creating a new in-app product. If you specify a |
Publish State |
This value must be set to published or unpublished. This is the same as setting an in-app product as Active or Inactive. |
Purchase Type |
This value must be set to |
Auto Translate |
This value must be set to If you want to provide translations of an in-app product’s title and description, specify these translations explicitly within the |
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If you include only one locale for an item, you must specify your app's default locale and the item's default title and description:
When setting the Note: When specifying the If you want to include translated versions of the item's title and description, you must list the default locale, title, and description, followed by the locales, titles, and descriptions for each translation. In the following example, the in-app product uses
Note: An app contains a single default language, but each in-app product maintains its own list of translations. Even though the first locale in each item's |
Auto-Fill Prices, Country, and Price |
You can set Note: When you specify an item's price in a CSV file, provide a price in micro-units, where 1,000,000 micro-units is equivalent to 1 unit of real currency. Use auto-filled prices The following sections describe how the value of If you set For example, under the following conditions:
You'd set the values of Set your own price per country If you set Note: You must provide a country code and price for each country that your app targets. To view and edit the list of countries that your app targets, use the Countries / regions tab on the Production page. Each For example, if you're offering your app for the following prices (all taxes included) in other countries:
You can set the values of
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Pricing Template ID |
If an item is linked to a pricing template, you should set If you import a CSV file, you can update the links between in-app products and pricing templates. To link the product to a specific pricing template, set the You can link up to 1,000 app prices or in-app product prices to a particular pricing template. Therefore, don't specify the same |
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If you distribute to users in the European Economic Area (EEA), you should set the value here either for DIGITAL_CONTENT or SERVICE. |
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If you sell digital news, magazines, newspapers, books, video, music, audio, or audiobooks in various countries or regions may be eligible for reduced VAT rates. For reduced rates, values on this field will follow this format: CountryCode;VATRate; Each country or rate pair should be followed by a semicolon before adding a new country or rate pair. For example:
BOOKS_1, NEWS_1, NEWS_2, MUSIC_OR_AUDIO_1, LIVE_OR_BROADCAST_1 (uppercase or lowercase). |
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If you want to collect applicable state communications and amusement taxes you must specify that your app or product is a streaming product and set this field as Currently, the only country allowed for this type of tax is the US. The value of this field is always set as: CountryCode;Eligibility;Rate For example:
If eligible, you can set the field according to the following categories:
AUDIO_MULTI_CHANNEL for audio streaming - multi-channel |