Do you need a website for your Google Play app?

When you fill in your store listing, the website field is one of the few you can leave empty. Plenty of developers do. Then, one by one, other parts of Play Console and AdMob ask for URLs that only a website can give them.

This guide covers what Google actually requires, why most apps end up with a site even when it's optional, and what that site needs.

Does Google Play require a website?

Not strictly. Google's help page on store listing contact details says:

A contact email address is required, but to provide your users with the best support experience, we also highly recommend including a website where users can contact you.

So an email is mandatory and the website is optional. You set both in Play Console under the store listing's contact details, and they show up on your app's page in the "App support" section.

Why you'll need one anyway

"Optional" lasts until one of these comes up.

1. Your privacy policy needs a public URL

Every app needs a privacy policy on "an active, publicly accessible and non-geofenced URL (no PDFs)". It has to be a real web page. If you don't have a site, you end up hosting it somewhere temporary, which is how privacy links break months after launch.

2. Apps with accounts need a deletion page

If users can create accounts, Google requires a web link where they can request account deletion, and the page has to name your app and put the steps up front. That's another page that needs a stable home.

3. AdMob's app-ads.txt needs a developer website

If you show ads with AdMob, you'll be asked to set up app-ads.txt, a file that tells ad buyers which ad networks are allowed to sell your inventory. Google's rule:

The app store listing must include a developer website.

The file goes at the root of the domain on that listing, like example.com/app-ads.txt. Without a website on your listing, ad networks can't verify you, and unverified inventory tends to earn less.

4. Users and reviewers look you up

Before installing an app from an unknown developer, a lot of people tap the developer name or search for the app. A clean page with the same icon, screenshots and a support contact is a trust signal. An empty developer profile isn't.

5. Links you can share outside the store

A Google Play link opens the store. A website link opens a page you control, which works better in a Reddit post, a press email or a Product Hunt launch, and can rank in search for your app's name.

What an app website needs

You don't need a big site. Four pages cover everything Google and your users will ask for:

Terms of service aren't required by Google Play, but they matter as soon as you sell something or let users post content. They're also where you limit your liability, which is worth a lot more than the few minutes they take.

Subdomain or custom domain?

Both work for Play. The difference shows up in three places:

• Trust. yourapp.com looks more established than a subdomain on a platform, especially in a store listing.
• Portability. With your own domain, you can change hosts without changing the URLs registered in Play Console. That matters because your privacy link is stored there and on your listing.
• app-ads.txt. The file is read from the root of the domain on your listing, so you need full control over what that domain serves. If you use AdMob, a custom domain is the safer choice.

A reasonable path: start on a subdomain so you're not blocked, then move to your own domain when you're ready. Just update the URLs in Play Console when you switch.

Your options

Build it yourself. A static site on GitHub Pages or Netlify works if you're comfortable with HTML and remember to keep it up to date. The hard part isn't the landing page, it's writing a privacy policy that actually matches your SDKs.

A general website builder. Carrd, Framer, Webflow and the like make nice landing pages. They don't know what a Data safety form is, so you still write the legal pages yourself or paste in a template.

A policy generator plus hosting. Generators give you legal text, usually as a template to copy somewhere. You still need a landing page and a support page, and you're back to keeping several things in sync.

A tool made for app launches. This is what onStart does.

Where each URL goes in Play Console

Once the site is live:

• Website: the store listing's contact details, next to your email.
• Privacy policy: Policy and programs > App content > Privacy policy.
• Account deletion: the Data safety form, after you say your app supports account creation.
• Inside your app: link the privacy policy from settings or an about screen.

Then check the Data safety form one more time, because the answers there and the policy on your new site should tell the same story.