How to market a finance app: the store rules to know first

Apple says apps providing services in highly regulated fields, naming banking and financial services and crypto exchanges among them, should be submitted by a legal entity that provides the services, not by an individual developer. Apps used for financial trading, investing or money management should be submitted by the financial institution performing those services and have the licensing and permissions needed where they are available. Crypto wallets may only be offered by developers enrolled as an organization. Google Play says it must be able to connect your developer account to any licenses or documents that prove you can provide financial products, and it can ask for more. Read these against what your app actually does before planning launch dates.

On Google Play, any app with financial features completes the Financial features declaration in Play Console, and an app that contains or promotes financial products must follow the rules of each country it targets, including disclosures that local law requires. Personal loan apps, including lead generators and apps that connect people with lenders, set their category to Finance and put in the app metadata the minimum and maximum repayment period, the maximum APR and a representative example of the total cost of the loan. Apple likewise requires personal loan apps to clearly and conspicuously disclose all loan terms, including the equivalent maximum APR and the payment due date. For marketing copy, this means the terms are part of the listing, not a footnote on your website, and your headline claims need to match them.

Some common growth tactics are off limits for finance apps. Apple does not allow crypto apps to offer currency for completing tasks such as downloading other apps, encouraging other users to download, or posting to social networks, so a crypto referral scheme that pays out in coins for installs or posts breaks the rules. No app on the App Store may force users to rate or review it, or download other apps, to unlock functionality. Both stores ban binary options trading apps outright, and Apple requires apps offering CFDs or other derivatives such as forex to be licensed in every jurisdiction where the service is available. On Google Play, personal loan, loan helper and earned wage access apps may not access sensitive data such as photos and contacts, and permissions including READ_CONTACTS and ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION are prohibited for them.

Within those rules, the usual store tools apply. Custom product pages on the App Store and custom store listings on Google Play let you show a budgeting feature to one audience and a savings feature to another, each with its own URL; see how to promote an iOS app and how to promote an app on Google Play. Keywords should describe what the app does, within the rules in App Store keywords, and Google Play does not allow prices or deals in the listing text. For ratings, ask inside the rules covered in how to get more app reviews.

Censuus ranks apps by the real visit traffic they draw on the web, and finance apps have their own category at finance. Adding your app is free on the submit page, and it can rise on the visits it earns. Sponsorship raises placement and adds a followed link to your website; details are on the sponsor page. We do not promise downloads or store rankings, and this guide is not legal or financial advice.