App Store and Google Play Referral Reward Rules for Apps

Apple's reviewers have told developers that rewarding the inviter is acceptable and that the person receiving the invitation should not be rewarded for downloading or registering. Google Play's policy prohibits manipulating ratings, reviews, and install counts. Neither store has a rule titled "referrals," so read the current text and build the reward around the inviter.

This guide quotes the text that matters, word for word, with a link to each source. It covers what reviewers flag, rewarding installs versus actions, rewarding with in-app content or subscription time, what to show the invited person, and a checklist. It is not legal advice and it cannot promise approval. Each store decides on its own review, so check the current guidelines before you submit.

What Apple's guidelines say

We read the App Review Guidelines on 2026-10-26. The page showed "Last Updated: October 16, 2026". Three passages bear on referral rewards.

Guideline 3.2.2(x) limits what an app can require and leaves room for rewards for actions inside the app:

Apps must not force users to rate the app, review the app, download other apps, or other store-related actions in order to access functionality, content, or use of the app. Apps may otherwise incentivize users to take specific actions within apps (such as by completing a level or watching an ad).

Guideline 3.1.1 covers anything that unlocks functionality, which includes subscription time:

If you want to unlock features or functionality within your app, (by way of example: subscriptions, in-game currencies, game levels, access to premium content, or unlocking a full version), you must use in-app purchase. Apps may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys, augmented reality markers, QR codes, cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency wallets, etc.

The same guideline says:

Apps may enable gifting of items that are eligible for in-app purchase to others. Such gifts may only be refunded to the original purchaser and may not be exchanged.

Guideline 5.6.3 (Discovery Fraud) names referrals to your app:

Participating in the App Store requires integrity and a commitment to building and maintaining customer trust. Manipulating any element of the App Store customer experience such as charts, search, reviews, or referrals to your app erodes customer trust and is not permitted.

The guidelines page has no clause that describes an invite reward by name. The rejection messages developers quote do, and they are the closest guide to how reviewers read these rules.

What reviewers have flagged

Developers in the Apple Developer Forums have posted the same rejection message for years. This is the text, as quoted by danreynolds in February 2021 in thread 674832:

we noticed that your app incentivizes referrals in order to sign up new users. While rewarding the invitation sender with points or other digital content is acceptable, the person receiving the invitation should not receive any rewards for downloading or registering an account to use your app. Incentivizing downloads has a direct influence on the App Store user reviews or chart ranking.

The same wording appears in thread 108548, first posted by Krrish in September 2018, whose title cites guideline 3.2.2. The reviewer text in these threads does not name a clause itself. In November 2020, arjunfromtudotech quoted a follow-up from App Review in that thread:

However by providing a bonus or reward to the referee, even if only when they subscribe to the app, we still consider this as incentivised referral and therefore not complaint.

When it comes to referrals, only the user referring should receive the bonus once that user signs up to the app.

Three points follow from these quotes. The reward for the inviter was described as acceptable. The reward for the invited person was the objection. Making the invitee reward depend on a subscription did not change the answer in that case.

Is "Give X, Get X" allowed?

Developers keep asking. In April 2021, rthomas wrote in thread 674832:

From their response above, it sounds like Apple only wants to allow "Get X" referral programs, and not "Give X, Get X". Is this accurate?

That thread shows no answer from Apple. danreynolds asked why other apps run referral rewards, and no reply came either. A forum post is not a policy. The safest design from the text above is the one every quoted message agrees on: the inviter is rewarded, and the invited person receives no reward for downloading or registering.

If your business needs a two-sided reward, put the question to App Review in your review notes and read the answer you get. The guidelines say, in the Business section, "If your business model isn’t obvious, make sure to explain in its metadata and App Review notes."

Reward installs or reward actions

The reviewer message ties its concern to downloads: "Incentivizing downloads has a direct influence on the App Store user reviews or chart ranking." A reward that fires on the install is the pattern that message describes. A reward that fires after the invited person does something in your app, such as creating an account or finishing onboarding, is tied to use of the app.

This is the order of events WarpLink supports. The invited person taps a referral link, installs, and opens the app. Your app calls claimReferral after the account exists, and we send your backend a signed referral.claimed event. Your reward rule runs on that event, so the reward waits for a real sign-up and not for a tap or a download. The steps are in the Referrals guide, and verifying a referral before you reward it covers the checks to run.

Rewarding with in-app content or subscription time

Reviewers wrote that rewarding the sender "with points or other digital content is acceptable." Subscription time is digital content that unlocks functionality, so guideline 3.1.1 applies as well. The guideline says in-app purchase is the way to unlock features, and that apps "may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality."

Two practical routes follow. You can grant the reward with the store's own mechanisms: Apple offer codes and promotional offers, or Google Play promo codes. Or you can use a service that manages entitlements for your subscription app. Granting a free month for a referral walks through both. For a reward that is points or credit inside your app, check guideline 3.1.1 for in-game currencies and credits, and read how App Review treats them for your app category.

What Google Play says

The User Ratings, Reviews, and Installs policy page, read on 2026-10-26, opens with:

We prohibit any manipulation of ratings, reviews, or install counts. This includes incentivizing feedback, using forced pop-ups, or paying for fake reviews. You must earn your ratings and installs through a high-quality app and a genuine user experience.

The full policy text adds:

Developers must not attempt to manipulate the placement of any apps on Google Play. This includes, but is not limited to, inflating product ratings, reviews, or install counts by illegitimate means, such as fraudulent or incentivized reviews and ratings, or incentivizing users to install other apps as the app’s main functionality.

The page lists "Don't offer rewards or incentives for ratings or reviews" and "Don't use automated services to inflate installs or ratings" among its key points. It has no section on invitation rewards. Keep the reward away from ratings and reviews, tie it to what the invited person does in your app, and reread the page when you submit, because policies change.

What to show the invited person

The invited person sees two things before your app: the invitation page and the store listing. Write both without a reward for them. The hosted invitation page takes a headline, a message, and button text, so you can say that a friend invited them and what the app does. "A friend invited you to Trailmix" is accurate. "Install now and get a free month" is the offer the quoted reviewers objected to.

Keep the store listing and screenshots free of reward claims for the new user too. If your app shows the inviter a reward, say what triggers it, in plain words: "You earn a free month when a friend you invite creates an account."

Checklist before you submit

1. The inviter receives the reward. The invited person receives no reward for downloading or registering.
2. The reward fires after an action in the app, such as account creation, and never on the tap or the install alone.
3. No reward depends on a rating, a review, or a store action. Guideline 3.2.2(x) and the Google Play policy both address these.
4. Subscription time is granted through offer codes, promotional offers, promo codes, or an entitlement service, and you have read guideline 3.1.1 for your case.
5. Your backend verifies the webhook signature and applies one reward per event id and per invited person.
6. The invitation page and store listing make no reward promise to the invited person.
7. Your review notes describe the referral flow and how a reviewer can see it.
8. You reread the App Review Guidelines and the Google Play policy on the day you submit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I reward the new user for a referral on the App Store?

App Review text quoted by developers says the person receiving the invitation should not receive a reward for downloading or registering an account. The same text calls rewarding the inviter acceptable. Read the current guidelines before you design the reward.

Is "Give X, Get X" allowed on iOS, or only "Get X"?

The reviewer text in the forum threads allows a reward for the inviter and objects to one for the invitee. Developers still ask whether a two-sided reward passes, and Apple has not published an answer in the guidelines.

Does Google Play allow referral rewards for installs?

The policy prohibits manipulating ratings, reviews, and install counts. It has no section on invite rewards. Tie the reward to what the invited person does in your app, and keep it away from ratings and reviews.

Can I give a free month of my subscription as a referral reward?

Subscription time is a common reward for the inviter. Grant it through the store's offer mechanisms or an entitlement service, and read guideline 3.1.1 first. The free month walkthrough shows the options.

Can my app reward an install, or only an action?

Reviewers tied their concern to downloads. A reward that waits for an action in your app, such as creating an account, keeps the reward tied to use of the app.

Related Guides

• Reference: Referrals and Receive referral webhooks.
• Grant the reward: Give a free month for a referral in a subscription app.
• Verify first: Verify a referral install before you grant the reward.
• Match quality: Exact vs estimated referral matches.
• Launch pass: A referral link checklist for launch.
• Use case: App referral programs.

How WarpLink Helps

We credit the inviter and leave the reward rule to you, which is the shape the reviewer text describes. A referral link carries the invitation, install attribution credits the install that follows a tap on that link, and the Referrals report shows each credited referral next to the rest of your link analytics. Your backend reads the signed webhook and grants whatever reward your rules and the store guidelines allow.

Create a free WarpLink account and get deep linking, install attribution, and real-time analytics in one SDK, with 10,000 clicks a month on the free plan.