Enrolling in the external offers program (original) (raw)

The external offers program allows developers of Google Play managed apps to lead users in the European Economic Area (EEA) to external offers, including to promote offers for in-app features and services or to download an app whose install and updates are not managed by Google Play. Developers must meet the below eligibility and requirements, and complete their enrollment in this program prior to promoting external offers. Participating developers are subject to our Payments policy and the applicable service fees described below, which support our investments in Play and Android, will continue to apply.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for this program:

• Your app must be an app or game across any form factor offering external offers to users in the EEA.
• Your app must not target only children.
• Developer must be registered as a business.

Requirements

Developers participating in this program must comply with the following requirements:

• Enroll and get approval for your app(s) and any linked external apps in the external offers program as defined below.
• Limit external offers to users in the EEA.
• Ensure all Play Apps enrolled in this program and any linked external apps comply with Play Developer Policies, with the exception of policies that are not applicable to linked apps, such as the Payments policy.
• Enrolled Play managed apps are only eligible to use alternative billing without user choice for in-app purchases and may not use Google Play Billing or user choice billing.
• Integrate with the external offers APIs to report applicable transactions and link users to external offers including calling these APIs so Google can surface the required information screen and provide required user protections.
• Provide customer support for users completing external transactions through an external offer, and provide a process to dispute unauthorized transactions.
• Offer refund methods for users completing transactions outside of Play, unless the user was clearly informed that the transaction is non-refundable before completing the purchase.
• Play store listings must not include information about apps not distributed by Google Play and/or purchases outside the app to minimize any possible user confusion.
• All external content links to external offers must meet the destination requirements as outlined below.
• Pay Google the applicable fees for transactions associated with a Play managed app that are concluded outside the app following the external offer as outlined in the section below.

Destination requirements

All external content destinations must meet the following requirements:

• External content links can direct users to your owned offers and app downloads.
• External content links to purchase your owned in-app offers can be shown on a browser, in a webview or another app store already installed on the user’s device.
• For user safety, external content links to download your owned apps can link to the download of apps on a browser or another app store already installed on the user’s device. The destination page cannot contain any downloads that have not been approved for the EOP program.
• External content links must inform the user about the destination page and its purpose in the app before linking out.
• External content URLs must not contain a user’s personally identifiable information without sufficient security / encryption techniques in order to protect the user’s data.
• External content links must not redirect or mislead users to a different destination page than presented in your external link, or present other false or deceptive information.

In addition, to ensure a good user experience and keep Play’s users safe, any destination for links to owned app downloads need to:

• Have the right to distribute the apps available at the destination.
• Clearly and visibly publish details for the app that is to be downloaded. The app details must include at least app name, app icon, app description, app version number, app download size, and information about the app developer.
• Only install an app with the user’s knowledge and at the explicit direction of the user for each app, through a clearly labeled UI component visible to the user.
• Provide direct, publicly accessible customer support to end users through readily accessible communication channels.
• Have user data policies for their users.
• Be responsible for adhering to all applicable local regulations, laws and ordinances.

Play service fees

Like our standard service fees, the fees associated with the external offers program reflect the value provided by Play and support our continued investments across Android and Play. The following fees apply when a user completes any transactions or any app installs following an external content link:

These fees are additive so apps choosing Tier 1 Ongoing Service are charged the Initial Acquisition + Tier 1 fees and those choosing Tier 2 Ongoing Service are charged Initial Acquisition + Tier 1 + Tier 2 fees.

Fixed Fees for App Downloads

For our Tier 1 and Tier 2 ongoing service, we have introduced a fixed fee structure when an app is downloaded following a link. This ensures that Play is compensated for the value it provides to the Play app such as services designed to keep Play users safe and platform tools for managing their Play app.

Tier 1 Ongoing Service, Fixed Fee Rate per Install* (Euro):

Tier 1 + Tier 2 Ongoing Service, Fixed Fee Rate per Install* (Euro):

* subject to periodic adjustments

Enroll your app in the external offers program

To enroll in the external offers program, you must complete the following steps:

1. Review the requirements on this page to determine if your app(s) meets all the eligibility criteria.
2. Open Play Console, go to the External offers page (Settings > External offers) and complete any onboarding steps required to enroll in the program (for example, accept the Terms of Service and set up a payment profile as required).
3. Integrate the external offers APIs.
4. Enroll your app(s) directly through Play Console. Once you've identified the apps and countries/regions in which you will be providing external offers, click on a section below to expand it and follow the steps to enroll your app and manage your external offers settings:

a. Enroll your app

1. Open Play Console and go to the External offers page (Settings > Linking to external offers).
2. Find the app you want to enroll and click Manage in the table. This opens the Monetization setup page for that app.
3. Click + Add countries/regions to select the EEA countries/regions you want to apply the external offers program to for this particular app.
   • The list of selectable countries/regions is determined by the program's availability in those countries/regions.
4. Select your desired ongoing service tier when offering external offers in selected region(s).
5. When you've finished, click Save changes.
6. These steps need to be completed for each app you want enrolled into the program.

b. View information and manage program settings

You can manage your external offers program settings, including app level enrollment and profile information, on the External offers page (Settings > Linking to external offers).

c. View regional external offers invoice information

1. Open Play Console and go to the Invoices page (Settings > Invoices for payments outside Google Play Billing).
2. You can select the appropriate user region tab to view the corresponding transaction and service fee information associated with transactions made by users in that region such as your amount due, transactions, invoices and documents, and settings.

d. Manage external offers settings

1. Open Play Console and go to the External offers page (Settings > Linking to external offers).
2. Find the app you want to enroll and click Manage in the table. This opens the Monetization setup page for that app.
3. Click + Edit country/regions to select the countries/regions you want to update external offers in.
   • The list of selectable countries/regions is determined by the program's availability in those countries/regions.
4. Select your desired ongoing service tier when offering external offers in selected region(s).
   • When changing from Service Tier 2 to Tier 1, Tier 2 fees will continue to apply for existing users for 6 months after switching.
5. When you've finished, click Save Changes.

5. If you are using external content links to link users to download an app, complete the following steps in Play Console:

a. Register and submit all versions of the linked external app(s)

1. Open Play Console and go to the Register external apps page (Settings > Register external apps)
2. External apps submitted for registration are processed as soon as possible, subject to our standard review processes, and may result in review times of up to 7 days or longer in exceptional cases.

b.Declare all external content links in your Play app(s)

1. Open Play Console and go to the External apps declaration (Monitor and improve > Policy and programs > App Content)
2. Input the package name of your external app. Note: only external apps that have been successfully registered will show up in the drop-down list. Please see this FAQ for more information.
3. Provide all user facing landing page URLs for the external app downloads.
4. Provide all download links that are being used to distribute the external app APK to users.

c. When your external app(s) are updated, submit all updated versions and APKs of the linked external app(s)

1. Open Play Console and go to the Register external apps page (Settings > Register external apps)
2. Find the external app that is being updated and click Manage in the table.
3. Ensure the external app is approved before linking users to the updated versions or APKs.

6. Report all applicable authorized transactions to Google Play within 24 hours of the external transaction.

Frequently asked questions

When can I start linking users to app downloads?

As of December 2025, you can link users in the EEA to app downloads using the updated external offers APIs once you have successfully enrolled in the external offers program, selected a service tier, integrated with the APIs, and ensured all links downloads have been reviewed and approved.

If I enrolled in the External Offers Program before December 9, 2025, what do I have to do?

Take the following required actions:

To continue participating:

• f you are looking to link users to purchases, you must adopt the updated program requirements and integrate with the updated external offers APIs by January 28th, 2026. We will also credit you the difference in service fees after January 28, 2026.
• If you are looking to link users to external app downloads, you must meet the program requirements, including linking users through the new external offers APIs, prior to implementing any links to download in your app. This external offer use case is not eligible for a migration period as this is a new capability that was made available starting December 9, 2025..

To stop participating: You can unenroll from the external offers program in the Play Console. Once you do, you must stop linking users to external offers, including to promote offers for in-app features and services or to download an app whose install and updates are not managed by Google Play.

Until the updated APIs are available, how do I pre-declare external offer URLs in Play Console?

You can pre-declare external offer URLs in the Play Console (Settings > Linking to external offers). By default, each app is set up for you to declare a limited number of external offer URLs. If you would like to declare more URLs, please contact us here.

As of December 9, 2025, you can now provide external content links dynamically with the updated external offers APIs. Once you have implemented it for external content links in your app, you will no longer be required to pre-declare them. Instead, you can provide them dynamically with the updated APIs.

Is there a limit to the number of external content links I am allowed to have in my app?

No, there is no limit on the number of external content links in your app.

Why can’t I select the external app when declaring external content links in the Play Console?

External apps must be successfully registered before you can declare the external content links that link users to an external app download. Please make sure that you have submitted the external app for registration and addressed any issues that may have been identified during the registration and review process. You can check to see if there are any issues in Play Console on the Publishing overview page before you submit your external app registration or on the Policy status page after you have submitted your external app for review.

Do I have to register the external apps that I link to?

YYes, registration of all external apps on the linked destination page is required. This process enables Google to check that all external apps linked to using external content links are compliant with Play Developer Policies, with the exception of policies that are not applicable to linked apps, such as the Payments policy.

Which countries make up the European Economic Area (EEA)?

Currently the EEA includes: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

Are game developers eligible for this program?

Yes, both game and app developers are eligible to apply and participate in the external offers program.

For which type of products can I offer the external offers program?

The program is available for apps and games across all form factors including mobile, tablet, Chrome OS, Android TV, and Wear OS.

Are all developers required to enroll in the external offers program?

No, this is an opt-in program only. If you do not wish to direct users outside of the app, no action is required.

Can I make external offers available for only some of my apps?

Yes,after successfully signing up to the external offers program, you can select which apps you want to enroll for external offers at any given time using the Play Console.

How can I notify Google of any changes to external payments program country enrollment selections?

You can change the external payments program enrollment in a market for a given app package through your Play Console settings. Any updates will be effective immediately, including changes to applicable service fees.

What are the steps to integrate with the external offers APIs?

It is easy to extend your existing integration with Google Play’s billing system to utilize external offers APIs. The APIs are built upon the same design patterns and principles as our Play Billing Library and Play Developer APIs. This means they are compatible with your existing designs and will be mostly familiar to your teams. In our developer integration guide, we provide detailed guidelines and resources on how to get started. We welcome developer feedback on these APIs and any additional resources that would be helpful.

If you have any questions or feedback about the external offers APIs, please contact us here.

If I am already participating in an alternative billing program, can I also participate in the external offers program?

Apps in the external offers program are only allowed to use alternative billing without user choice, but the use of user choice billing or Google Play billing in combination with the external offer links is no longer supported. This change aligns the billing experience with the new flexibility you have to direct users out of the app.

Developers enrolled before August 19, 2025 will have until November 30, 2025, a 3-month transition period, to adopt these changes.

Can I use Google Play's billing system alongside external offers?

Apps in the external offers program can only use their own billing service by signing up for and complying with the alternate billing without user choice program. The use of Google Play Billing or User Choice Billing in combination with the external offer links is no longer supported. This change aligns the billing experience with the new flexibility you have to direct users out of the app.

Developers enrolled before August 19, 2025 will have until November 30, 2025, a 3-month transition period, to adopt these changes.

Why does the external offers program require a service fee?

Play's fees support our investment in Android and Google Play and reflect the value provided by Android and Play, including enabling us to distribute Android for free and provide the continuously growing suite of tools and services that help developers build successful businesses, all while keeping our platforms safe and secure for billions of users worldwide.

To comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation, developers may enroll in the external offers program. In order to continue our investments in the ecosystem, developers who participate with the external offers program will be subject to a new service fee model for user purchases associated with a Play app that are concluded outside the app, consisting of an initial acquisition fee and an ongoing services fee.