Google Play Store Listing: A Complete Guide to Every Field

TL;DR: A Google Play store listing is your app's public page, set up under Main store listing in Play Console. It needs an app name (30 characters), short description (80), full description (4,000), a 512 × 512 icon, a 1024 × 500 feature graphic and at least 2 screenshots, plus a category, a contact email and a privacy policy. Each field affects search, conversion or both.

The rest of this guide goes through each field in order, with what Google requires and what actually helps.

App name (30 characters)

Use your brand name plus, if it fits naturally, the term people search for, such as "YourApp: Sleep Sounds". Google's Metadata policy doesn't allow text or images in the title, icon or developer name that indicate store performance or ranking ("#1", "Best"), price or promotions ("Free", "50% off") or Google Play programs, and it lists emojis and special characters in those fields as a common violation. You can add one localized name per language.

Short description (80 characters)

Google describes this as the first text users see on your listing's detail page. Use it for one benefit-led sentence that adds to the name instead of repeating it, for example "Fall asleep faster with calm sounds, stories and a smart sleep timer." The short description guide has examples by category.

Full description (4,000 characters)

Google Play has no separate keyword field, so your listing text is where relevant terms belong. Write for people first:

1. Open with two or three lines that restate the core benefit.
2. List key features as short, scannable lines.
3. Explain what's free and what's paid.
4. Close with how to get support.

Mention important terms naturally where they fit. The Metadata policy prohibits misleading, irrelevant or excessive metadata, as well as unattributed or anonymous user testimonials in the description. The full description guide covers formatting and structure.

App icon

Upload a 512 × 512, 32-bit PNG of up to 1 MB. Keep it simple and recognizable at small sizes, and don't add ranking or price text, which the Metadata policy bans in icons. ScreenShipper's free app icon generator exports the Play 512 px icon along with Android adaptive and themed icons and an Xcode AppIcon set in one zip.

Feature graphic

A 1024 × 500 JPEG or 24-bit PNG without alpha. Google's help currently says you must provide one to publish. It covers your promo video and appears in large-format placements, so keep the focal point centered and important text away from the edges. See feature graphic examples for eight layouts.

Screenshots

Upload 2 to 8 screenshots per device type as JPEG or 24-bit PNG without alpha. Each side must be 320 to 3,840 px, the long side no more than twice the short side, and each file up to 8 MB. To be eligible for recommendation placements, provide at least 4 screenshots with 1,080 px or more on the short side. Sizes per device are on the Google Play screenshot sizes guide, and design advice is in Google Play screenshot best practices.

Promo video

Add a single YouTube URL. Google currently asks that the video be public or unlisted, have ads turned off, not be age-restricted and be embeddable; playlist and channel links don't work. Show the real app early, because the first seconds matter most.

Under store settings, choose whether you're publishing an app or a game, then pick the category that best describes it, such as Productivity, Health and Fitness or Travel and Local. Choose the category your target users would browse, not the least crowded one.

Tags describe your app's content and features in more detail. Google allows up to five, so pick the ones most strongly associated with your app rather than everything loosely related.

For contact details, a support email address is required, a website is recommended and a phone number is optional. These appear on your listing, so use an inbox someone actually reads.

Every app needs a privacy policy, even one that collects no personal data. Google's User Data policy asks for a link in the designated Play Console field and a link or text inside the app, on an active, publicly accessible URL that isn't a PDF.

The listing also sits on top of the App content section of Play Console, where you declare whether the app has ads, complete the content rating questionnaire, set your target audience, fill in the Data safety form and provide sign-in details if parts of the app are behind a login. Some of these answers appear publicly on your listing, such as the content rating and the Data safety section. The store listing requirements checklist walks through every declaration.

Once the default listing is solid, three tools let you tailor and improve it:

• Translations. Add languages to your listing with a localized name, descriptions and graphics. Localized screenshots matter most in markets where shoppers don't read English.
• Custom store listings. Create separate listings for specific countries or audiences, for example a version with region-specific screenshots.
• Store listing experiments. Use store listing experiments to run A/B tests on your icon, feature graphic and screenshots, or on localized descriptions, against your current listing. Google currently lets you choose up to two variants per experiment.

• Repeating the app name in the short description instead of adding a benefit.
• Keyword lists in the full description, which the Metadata policy treats as irrelevant or excessive metadata.
• "Best", "#1" or "Free" in the title, icon or graphics.
• Screenshots exported with an alpha channel, or raw captures that break the 2:1 ratio limit.
• iPhone frames or App Store badges in Android screenshots.
• A feature graphic that just repeats the icon on a white background.
• A privacy policy link that's broken, generic or hosted as a PDF.
• Translating the description but leaving English-only screenshots.