App Store promo codes and offer codes: how they work and their limits

Promo codes give potential customers or reviewers a free copy of an app on iOS, macOS or tvOS. You generate them in App Store Connect under Promo Codes in the app’s sidebar, accepting Apple’s contract terms for distributing free versions, and can request up to 100 per version of each platform your app supports. Each code works on any storefront where the app is available, is valid for four weeks from the day it was generated, and can be used once; the History tab shows the generation date, so you can tell when a batch expires. Codes can be distributed any way you like, and purchases made with them show in Sales and Trends reports. The app then behaves as if it were bought, updates included, but people who redeem a promo code cannot rate or review the app. Codes also work for unreleased versions of an app on the App Store; codes for tvOS or multi-platform apps must be redeemed on an iOS device; and they cannot be generated for apps available only through Apple Business or Apple School Manager, or for an app removed from sale everywhere.

For anything sold inside the app, Apple’s help describes offer codes, which give free or discounted access and are meant to acquire, retain and win back customers. There are three kinds. One-time-use codes are random, each redeemable once, created in batches of 500 to 25,000, and expire within at most six months; people redeem them through a redemption URL, in the App Store, or inside your app. Custom codes are names you choose, such as a seasonal campaign word, up to 64 characters, redeemable by many people up to a limit of 25,000 per batch, with an optional expiry of up to six months; they are redeemed through a URL or inside your app. Sandbox codes are for testing. An app can create up to 1 million codes per quarter and have up to 10 active offers at a time for in-app purchases, or 10 per subscription; each customer can redeem one code per offer, and you choose who is eligible: for subscriptions, new, existing or expired subscribers. Offers cannot be edited once created, and one-time-use and custom codes need the app to be Ready for Distribution and, for in-app purchases, the purchase to be approved. It can take up to an hour before new codes are redeemable.

The two Apple pages do not say the same thing here. Apple’s marketing page on promoting apps says you can give away up to 100 promo codes per version of your app, per platform, and up to 100 promo codes per in-app purchase. The App Store Connect help page for requesting promo codes, as read on 28 September 2026, describes promo codes only for the app itself, while its pages on offer codes cover in-app purchases and subscriptions. If you want to give away something sold inside the app, start with offer codes in App Store Connect, and check what the Promo Codes page in your own account offers.

Google Play promotions give people a paid app, a one-time product or a subscription for free. Subscription promo codes give a free trial of 3 to 90 days on the subscription’s backwards-compatible base plan, replacing any existing trial or offer. You can create up to 500 non-subscription promo codes per quarter in an app, in any mix of paid-app and in-app codes, and subscription codes have separate limits; for custom subscription codes you pick a redemption limit between 2,000 and 99,999. Codes are one-time use or custom; custom codes are alphanumeric, not case-sensitive, and Google suggests adding a year or date to keep track of them. Unused codes do not carry over to the next quarter. You set start and end dates and can pause a promotion. For in-app products and subscriptions, your app must integrate in-app promotions first. Google also requires you to be explicit about the terms of any promotion.

Codes are a way to give access, not to buy feedback. Hand them to press, creators, community members and beta testers so they can use the app properly, and keep ratings separate: promo code redeemers cannot review on the App Store, and both stores forbid incentivized reviews, as covered in how to get more app reviews. For the wider plan, see how to get first users for an app, how to promote an iOS app, how to promote an app on Google Play and, for trials and offers, how to market a subscription app.

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