Google Play metadata & settings

Releasely pushes your listing's text content (title, descriptions, release notes) and your visuals (icon, feature graphic, screenshots) for you. But Google's publishing API doesn't open everything to automation: some declarations and settings must be filled yourself in the Play Console, once, before you can publish. This page explains what Releasely handles, then walks through those manual settings — in dashboard order and with the path to reach each one.

What Releasely handles for you

You edit these in Releasely, which then sends them to Google Play:

• the title, short and full description (per language);
• the icon (512×512) and feature graphic (1024×500);
• the screenshots (via the visuals editor);
• the contact details (email, phone, website);
• the release notes ("What's new").

The rest of this page is about what you do yourself in the Play Console.

"App content" declarations

The App content page (under the Policy and programs menu) gathers the required declarations. On the dashboard they appear in this order:

• Privacy policy — your privacy policy URL (required for every app). It isn't on the publishing API; as soon as a URL is available in Releasely it appears in the "Manual setup in the store" section with a copy button — paste it here.
• App access (Sign-in details) — test credentials if all or part of the app is behind a sign-in, so Google's reviewers can access it.
• Ads — state whether your app contains ads (ad SDKs, banners, native…). A "Contains ads" label is then shown on the listing.
• Content rating — an IARC questionnaire (violence, sexual content, gambling…). Google derives the age ratings for each region (PEGI, ESRB, USK…). Required: without a rating, the app is removed.

• Target audience and content — the target age group(s) (triggers extra obligations if children are targeted).
• Data safety — Play's equivalent of the "privacy label", required and shown on the listing. You declare whether the app collects or shares data and which, the purpose of each, and your security practices (encryption in transit, deletion on request). Consider third-party components (analytics, ads, crash) before declaring "no collection".

• Government apps — declare whether your app is a government app.
• Financial features — declaration required for every app (since October 30, 2025), even with no financial feature: state whether the app offers financial features (loans, crypto, budgeting…). Until it's completed, you can no longer update the app.
• Health — declaration required for every app: state whether your app is a health app (tracking, telemedicine, clinical research…).

Category, tags and contact details (Store settings)

• Category — App or Game, then one category from Google's official list. It is not exposed on the publishing API: no tool can push it, so it isn't an App Metadata field. Releasely's "Manual setup in the store" section lists this step as a reminder.
• Tags — up to 5 tags from Google's closed list, to refine how your app ranks in searches and similar-apps lists.
• Contact details (email, phone, website) — these ARE pushed automatically by Releasely on publish; nothing to do here.

Pricing and availability

• Free or paid — note: a published app can switch from paid to free, but not back. Selling a paid app requires a merchant (payments) profile. The price is set under Products › App pricing.
• Availability — the countries and regions where your app is offered, under Production › Countries/regions.