Every app on Google Play carries a content rating, and the rating is not Google's decision. It is issued by third-party rating authorities through the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), driven entirely by the questionnaire you complete in Play Console. Those ratings do more than decorate your store listing: in several countries they decide whether minors can find or buy your app at all. Here are the eight questions developers ask most, answered from Google's own Play Console documentation.
What you are solving today: who assigns the rating, which apps must complete the questionnaire, where to fill it in, what the Summary page really means, when and how to appeal, how the rating ties into target audience and the Families policy, whether your in-app ads must match it, and what happens when the answers are wrong.
1. Who actually assigns the rating — Google or somebody else?
Not Google. Per Content rating requirements for apps, games, and the ads served on both, ratings are assigned by separate third-party rating authorities, and each authority uses its own methodology to turn your questionnaire responses into a rating.
The participating authorities are:
- ESRB — the Americas, with ratings from EVERYONE through ADULTS ONLY.
- PEGI — Europe and the Middle East, PEGI 3 through PEGI 18.
- USK — Germany, from "All ages" through "Ages 18 and above".
- ClassInd — Brazil, from "All ages" through "18+".
- ACB — Australia, and its ratings are only issued for games.
- GRAC — South Korea, also games only; plain apps use a separate Korean system.
- IARC Generic — everywhere else, shown as "Rated for 3+" and up.
You fill in one questionnaire and receive ratings from multiple authorities no matter where you are located. Because standards differ by territory, the same app can legitimately carry different ratings in different countries.
2. Which apps have to complete the questionnaire?
Three cases, per Google's documentation:
- New apps submitted to Play Console.
- Existing apps that are active on Google Play but lack a rating.
- All app updates where there has been a change to your content or features that would affect the answers — so adding ads, in-app purchases, chat, user-generated content or adult themes means going back through it.
3. Where do I fill it in, and can I stop halfway?
- Open Play Console and go to the App content page (Policy → App content).
- Click Start, review the questionnaire information and enter your email address — that address is used for correspondence with IARC.
- Select a category, click Next, and complete the questionnaire.
- To change a completed section later, click Edit. To finish another time, click Save draft — only one draft questionnaire can exist per app.
- Your answers generate calculated ratings on the Summary page. Review them and click Submit.
- If the ratings do not reflect your content, retake the questionnaire with Start new questionnaire on the Content rating page.
After submission you can review the ratings and the questionnaires in the Target audience and content section of the App content page.
4. Is the rating on the Summary page what users will see?
Not necessarily. Google states plainly that the calculated rating on the Summary page may not be the rating shown to users on Google Play, and that rating authorities participating in IARC may change your app's rating after their own review. If an authority overrides your rating and you want to update your responses, you have to complete the questionnaire again.
Two practical consequences: never screenshot the Summary page as proof of your final rating, and treat territory-by-territory differences as normal rather than as a bug.
5. Can I appeal a rating I disagree with?
Yes. If you object to the rating assigned by a participating IARC authority, you can appeal directly using the link provided in your certificate email. For questions to IARC that are not appeals, contact IARC through their website.
In practice, the cheaper first step is usually to retake the questionnaire with complete, accurate answers — the authorities rate what your responses describe, and vague answers are the most common reason a rating looks too harsh or too lenient.
6. How does the rating connect to target audience and the Families policy?
The questionnaire is only half of the App content page. You also declare a target age group under Target audience and content, and that declaration carries its own requirements:
- Before you fill it in, you must have declared whether your app contains ads and provided app access instructions, and you must add a privacy policy.
- If the app is designed primarily for children under 13, or if any target audience age group includes children, the Google Play Families policies apply — including the requirement to use only Families Self-Certified Ads SDKs for ads served to children and users of unknown age, and no personalized advertising.
- For a mixed audience that spans children and adults, the policy expects a neutral age screen so children only ever receive non-personalized ads.
- Select more than one age group only when the app is genuinely designed for and appropriate to all of them. Google reserves the right to review whether your declared target audience is accurate, regardless of what you selected.
- Changes in that section can be reviewed for policy compliance even before you submit an app update, and an app update is required before the new information appears on the store listing.
7. Do the ads inside my app have to match the rating?
Yes, and this catches developers out. Ads and their associated offers — including an ad that promotes downloading another app — must be appropriate for your app's content rating, even when every piece of your own content complies. Google's Ads policy is the reference here. Three things to do:
- Set your ad filters so ad services and ad content match the app's rating.
- Confirm with your ad provider that the campaigns you select only serve content that matches that rating.
- If you use AdMob, use its blocking controls and set the right ad content rating as described in the AdMob Help Center.
8. What actually happens if the rating is wrong?
- Removal or suspension. Misrepresenting your app's content may result in the app being removed or suspended, and Google applies the same wording to misrepresentation anywhere in Play Console, including the Target audience and content section.
- Minors lose access. In the European Economic Area, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, for users determined to be minors, Play blocks the acquisition and purchase of mature content such as 18+ rated apps and games, and blocks or filters mature content from search and browse pages except through deep linking.
- Programs and trademarks. Ratings feed eligibility for special developer programs, and every rating icon is a protected trademark of its authority — misuse can carry legal consequences.
Before your next update
- Open Policy → App content and check that the content rating and target audience answers still describe the build you are shipping.
- Retake the questionnaire whenever content, features, or monetization changed — not only when Console nags you.
- Re-check that ad network filters and blocking controls match the rating, especially after adding a new ad network.
- If children are anywhere in your target audience, verify the Families requirements: self-certified ads SDKs, no personalized ads, neutral age screen for mixed audiences, an accurate privacy policy.
- Give new users and existing users notice via "What's New" or in-app messaging when you change the target age group or start serving ads or in-app purchases.
The one-line version
IARC member authorities turn your Play Console questionnaire answers into content ratings that vary by country, can be overridden after review, and can be appealed through the certificate email — so answer completely, keep the target audience declaration aligned with the build, make your in-app ads match the rating, and remember that misrepresentation is a removal-and-suspension issue, not a cosmetic one.