Promo codes let you give your paid Android app, an in-app item or a free subscription trial to people you pick. You create them in Play Console, download them as a file and hand them out yourself. Google gives every app a fixed quota each quarter, and the rules differ for subscriptions.
What a Play promo code can give away
Google's billing docs describe promo codes as a way to give one-time products or subscription trials "free-of-charge to a limited number of users". There is no discount version: the person pays nothing for the item, or gets a free trial on the subscription.
| What you sell | What the code gives | Code types | Quarterly quota |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid app | The app, free | One-time use | 500 per app, shared with one-time products |
| One-time product (in-app item) | That item, free | One-time use | Same shared 500 |
| Subscription | A free trial of 3 to 90 days, then the plan renews | One-time use or custom | 10,000 one-time codes per subscription; custom codes have a redemption limit of 2,000 to 99,999 |
For subscriptions, Google's docs add: "Promo codes offer free trials to subscriptions and not free subscriptions." The person still has to subscribe with a valid payment method. Once the trial ends, the subscription renews at full price unless they cancel. Say that plainly wherever you share a subscription code.
The limits to plan around
These come from Play Console Help and the Android Developers promo code page, both checked on 27 Oct 2026.
- 500 codes per quarter across all non-subscription promotions in an app. Paid app codes and in-app product codes come out of the same pool, so 250 of each uses it up.
- 10,000 one-time codes per quarter for each subscription product. This quota is counted separately from the 500.
- Custom codes are only for subscriptions. You set a redemption limit between 2,000 and 99,999, and only people who have never subscribed before can use them.
- Unused codes don't carry over. If you don't use your quota in a quarter, it is gone.
- A promotion can last up to one year. After its end date the codes expire and you can no longer view or edit that promotion in Play Console.
- After you create a promotion, you can't change how many codes it has or switch it to another type. Create a new promotion instead.
- If you can't create codes on the first day of a new quarter, Google says to wait 24 hours and try again.
Custom codes have their own rules. They must use letters and numbers only, they are not case-sensitive, and they must be unique within the app, so you can't reuse one for a later campaign. Google suggests adding a year or date to the end of a custom code to keep campaigns apart.
Before you create codes
For a paid app, there is nothing to build. Codes work straight away because Google Play handles the purchase.
For in-app products and subscriptions, your app must support what Google calls In-app Promotions. In practice that means your app has to handle purchases that happen outside it. Someone can redeem a code in the Play Store app while your app is closed, or not even installed yet. Next time your app starts, it has to find that purchase and grant the item. The Android Developers page links to the guides on processing and fetching purchases.
Three more conditions from Play Console Help:
- You can't create codes for an inactive product.
- For one-time products, only active buy purchase options can be used.
- For subscriptions, the promotion uses the subscription's backwards-compatible base plan. If the plan already has a free trial or another offer, the promo code's trial length replaces it.
How to create promo codes in Play Console
- Open Play Console, select your app and go to Monetize with Play, then Promo codes.
- Click Create promo code. The first time, review and accept the Promo codes Terms of Service.
- Name the promotion and choose a start date and an end date.
- Choose the promotion type: your paid app, a one-time product or a subscription.
- For a subscription, pick the subscription and the free trial length (3 to 90 days).
- Choose one-time use codes and enter how many you want, or (subscriptions only) enter your custom code and its redemption limit.
- Set the status to On so the promotion runs between its start and end dates, then click Create.
- Wait a few seconds, then click the download link to get your one-time codes as a CSV file.
You can pause a promotion later. Paused codes can't be redeemed until you turn it back on. Moving the start date into the future also pauses it until that date. The end date can only be moved to a later date.
There is no API for creating codes
Play Console is the only way to create promo codes. The Google Play Developer API has resources for subscriptions, one-time products, their offers and purchases, but nothing that creates promotions or promo codes (checked against the REST reference on 27 Oct 2026). One-time codes come out of Play Console as a CSV file, and that is all you get.
So if you run a giveaway, the workflow is manual: create the promotion, download the CSV, then load the codes into whatever you use to send them. Apple works differently: its offer codes can be created in App Store Connect or through the App Store Connect API. The details are in the guide to Apple offer codes for developers.
Sharing codes
Google lets you print codes or send them as a link. The link format from the Android Developers page is:
https://play.google.com/redeem?code=YOURCODE
The link opens Google Play with the code already filled in. After the person taps Redeem, Google Play asks them to open your app if the latest version is installed, or to install or update it if not.
Give each one-time code to one person. A code posted in a public thread goes to whoever is fastest, which is often someone who collects codes rather than someone who wants your app. A custom subscription code is the one exception. It is built to be shared, but it only works inside your app and only for people who never subscribed. For channels that suit each code type, see where to share promo codes.
How people redeem your codes
One-time codes can be redeemed in Google Play or inside your app. Custom codes only work inside your app. The places people can enter a one-time code are:
- In the Google Play app: profile picture, then Payments & subscriptions, then Redeem code.
- On a computer at play.google.com/redeem.
- In your app's purchase screen: tap the down arrow next to the payment method, then Redeem code.
- From your redeem link, which fills in the code.
For a subscription code redeemed in the Play Store, Google says that apps using Billing Library 2.0 or later get the purchase straight away. The person subscribes in the Play Store, and your app picks up the purchase later. Older integrations make the person open your app and subscribe there to use the code.
If you send codes to people who aren't technical, link them to how to redeem a Google Play code. It covers the error messages they may see.
Test before you hand out codes
Create a few codes for yourself first. They come out of the same 500 quota, so keep the test small. Google recommends testing at least these cases:
- A code entered in the purchase dialog launched from your app.
- A code redeemed in the Google Play app.
- A code redeemed on the Google Play website.
- Redeeming before the app is installed.
- Redeeming on a second device while your app is open in the foreground.
- Redeeming in multi-window mode, with your app and Google Play on screen together.
In each case, check that your app finds the item and tells the person they have it.
Be clear, and keep reviews out of it
Play Console Help asks you to be open about the terms of your offer, so people don't need extra steps to find them. For a subscription code, that means the trial length, the price after the trial and the fact that it renews unless cancelled.
Never tie a code to a rating or a review. Google's ratings and reviews policy says "Don't offer rewards or incentives for ratings or reviews", and a free code is a reward. That includes asking people who got a code for a rating afterwards. If your app asks for ratings at all, the policy wants that prompt to be clear and not deceptive, and it must have nothing to do with the code.
Questions developers ask
Can I create Google Play promo codes with an API?
No. Codes are created only in Play Console and downloaded as a CSV file. The Play Developer API can read purchases made with a code, but it can't create one.
Can I give away a subscription forever with a code?
No. A subscription promo code gives a free trial of 3 to 90 days. After that the subscription renews at its normal price unless the person cancels.
Do unused codes roll over to the next quarter?
No. The quota resets each quarter, and anything you didn't create is lost. Codes you already created keep working until the promotion's end date.
Can someone who already subscribed use my code?
With a one-time code, yes. Google says people who had a subscription before but no longer have it can still get the free trial through a promotion. A custom code only works for people who have never subscribed.