Requirements related to content ratings for apps, games and the ads served on both

You can communicate familiar and locally relevant content ratings to your users and help improve app engagement by targeting the right audience for your content and for the ads that appear in it. To create a good experience for your users, make sure your app’s content ratings are locally relevant and familiar to the target audience.

How apps receive content ratings

Your app’s content ratings are assigned by separate rating authorities and determined by your questionnaire responses. Because they are independent third parties, each rating authority uses its own methodology to assign ratings. (See Rating authorities and descriptions.)

To receive a rating for each of your apps and games, fill out a rating questionnaire in Google Play Console. Provide accurate, complete information about the nature of your app’s content. Your questionnaire responses determine the ratings assigned to your app. After you submit your information, you’ll receive a content rating from multiple rating authorities no matter where you’re located. Google Play will display that rating on your app.

You need to complete the content rating questionnaire for both your new and existing apps, including:

  • New apps submitted to Google Play Console
  • Existing apps that are active on Google Play but lack a rating
  • All app updates where there has been a change to your content or features that would affect the responses to the questionnaire

To benefit your users, include the assigned rating when advertising your app in each respective region, following these display guidelines.

How content ratings are used

App ratings are meant to do more than reflect the intended audience. They’re meant to help consumers, especially parents, identify whether the app is appropriate for what the consumers are looking for, along with other purposes, like:

  • Blocking or filtering your content in certain territories or to specific users where legally required
  • European Economic Area (EEA), UK, Switzerland, and Australia only: Blocking the acquisition and purchase of mature content for non-supervised accounts that are not confirmed adults
  • EEA, UK, Switzerland, and Australia only: Blocking or filtering mature content from Google Play search and browse pages for declared teens or "high confidence" teens, except through deep linking
  • Evaluating your app’s eligibility for special developer programs

All rating icons are protected trademarks of the respective rating authority, and their misuse may result in legal action. Find specifics about rating icon usage on each rating authority’s website.

Understanding your target audience selection

To better serve users, it’s important to provide accurate information about your app. In addition to filling out the content rating questionnaire, you’ll also need to provide details about your app’s target audience and content. Depending on the target audience selections you make, your app may be subject to additional Google Play policies. For example:

Your app is designed primarily for children under 13

You must comply with Google Play Families policy requirements, including the requirement to use only Families Self-Certified Ads SDKs to serve ads.
Your app is designed for everyone, including children Any apps that have at least one target audience age group that includes children must comply with Google Play Families policy requirements, including the requirement to use only Families Self-Certified Ads SDKs to serve ads to children and users of unknown age.
Your app is not designed for children You must still meet the requirements outlined in Google Play Developer Program policies and Developer Distribution Agreement.

Note: For more insight on this topic, see Managing target audience and app content settings.

How to manage target audience and app content settings

If you create a new app or publish an update to an existing app, you’ll be required to declare your app’s target age group. Any apps that include children in their target audience must comply with Google Play's Families policy requirements. Before filling out the "Target audience and content" section, you must have declared whether or not your app contains ads and provided instructions for app access. You must also add a privacy policy.

For detailed instructions on how to declare your app’s target age group, read Manage target audience and app content settings.

How to make sure ads are suitable for your app’s content rating

Ads and their associated offers (like an ad promoting the download of another app) must be appropriate for your app’s content rating. Even if all of your app-specific content complies with our policies and matches your app’s content rating, you also need to check the ads and offers shown in your app to make sure they’re appropriate for that rating. For examples of ads that don’t match an app’s content rating, review the Inappropriate Ads policy. 

Setting your ad filters appropriately helps make sure ad services and ad content are appropriate for your app’s content rating. 

  • Check with your ad service provider to make sure the advertising campaigns you selected will only show content that matches your app’s content rating. 
  • If you use AdMob, review the AdMob Help Center article for steps about how to use blocking controls and set the right ad content rating.

How to complete a rating questionnaire

Make sure to provide accurate responses to the content rating questionnaire. If you have questions about the rating assigned to your app, contact the rating authority directly using the link provided in your certificate email. Misrepresentation of your app’s content may result in its removal or suspension.

Unrated apps also may be removed from Google Play. To prevent your apps from being listed as Unrated, open Google Play Console, go to the App content page, and fill out the questionnaire for each of your apps as soon as possible.

Follow these steps to take the rating questionnaire. It’s critical to provide complete and accurate responses to every question.

  1. Open Google Play Console and go to the App content page (Policy > App content).
  2. Click Start.
  3. Review the information about the questionnaire and enter your email address.
  4. Select a category and click Next.
  5. Complete the questionnaire.
    • To change any of your responses after you’ve completed a section, click Edit.
    • If you’ve started taking the questionnaire and want to finish later, click Save draft. Each app can have one draft questionnaire at a time.
  6. Your responses will generate calculated ratings shown on the Summary page. Review the ratings and click Submit. If you don’t think the ratings accurately reflect your content, you can retake the questionnaire. Click Start new questionnaire on the Content rating page.

After you’ve submitted the calculated ratings, you can review them along with your questionnaires in the "Target audience and content" section of the App content page.

Understanding your content ratings results

Your app can earn different ratings in different territories because rating standards can have differences by territory, each rating authority uses its own logic when rating apps.

Rating authorities participating in IARC may change your app's rating after a review. If a rating authority overrides your app rating and you want to update your responses, you’ll need to complete the questionnaire again.

Note: The calculated rating shown on the Summary page may not be the rating shown to users on Google Play. App updates and submissions can be rejected for misrepresenting an app's content. Your questionnaire responses may be used to generate ratings for specific territories as required by local law.

How to appeal your content rating

If you object to the rating assigned to your app by a participating IARC rating authority, you have the right to appeal directly using the link provided in your certificate email. If you have other questions for IARC, not related to appeals, you can contact them on their website.

Exploring rating authorities and descriptions

Rating authorities in different territories have their own content rating system.

Rating authorities

 

In countries and territories that aren’t represented by a participating rating authority, a separate rating will suggest the age appropriateness of an app or game.

Other

 Additional resources

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