App Store Support URL and Play Console Website: Are They Required?

In Play Console's contact details section, entering a support email is mandatory; this is also the address Google itself uses to reach you when needed. The website field is not required for a basic listing, but if you use AdMob it becomes necessary to verify your ad ID via app-ads.txt, and in general it adds credibility to your listing.

If your app allows account creation, Google's policy expects users to easily find how to request account and data deletion. This isn't a separate technical field — it means the deletion mechanism you declare in the Data safety form should actually be explained on a page users can reach, typically your support page.

App Store Connect's App Information section has a Support URL field, and you cannot submit your app for review without filling it in. The Marketing URL is optional; if provided, it appears as a link on your App Store page. There is also a separate, mandatory privacy policy URL field for every app.

Play's support email isn't account-level either — it's per app: every app's own store listing (Store settings > Store listing contact details) has its own contact details section with its own support email. So the two stores aren't actually different on this point — App Store Connect's Support URL, Marketing URL, and privacy policy URL are likewise set separately for each app; if you have multiple apps, you can point each one to a different support channel.

A support page should include, at minimum: a working contact method (email or form), an FAQ, and a clear description of how to request account/data deletion. That third item took effect on two different dates: Apple's in-app account deletion requirement has applied since June 30, 2022, while Google's web-link requirement for account deletion arrived in 2023 (announced in April 2023, with a December 2023 compliance deadline) — but the end result is that today, both are standard expectations for any app that allows account creation.

A marketing/website page should describe your app, link to both store listings, and, if you use AdMob, host an accessible app-ads.txt file at its root (yoursite.com/app-ads.txt). Without this file, or with it in the wrong location, AdMob cannot verify your ad ID.

The privacy policy page must be genuinely reachable; an empty, password-protected, or "under construction" page is grounds for rejection or later suspension on either store. The policy text must also be consistent with the data your app actually collects (advertising ID, analytics, crash reports, and so on).

You don't have to build a separate website; what's required is that every URL you're asked for points to a real, publicly reachable page. A single-page static site, a page-builder tool, or a hosted marketing+support page auto-generated for your app all satisfy what the stores expect.

Vibeloy's marketing site tool takes your app's description, store links, screenshots, and support email from a single form and publishes them at your app's hosted address; the resulting root address and /support address can be pasted directly into Play Console's Website/Support fields and App Store Connect's Marketing URL/Support URL fields. This is a premium Vibeloy feature.

Whichever route you take, the rule is the same: don't move or rename the URL after you've submitted it. Both consoles treat the URL as permanent; if you change the address, the old link breaks, and both reviewers and users hit a dead page.

The most common mistake is leaving a generic company homepage, or a page still under construction, as the Support URL; App Review flags this as lacking app-specific content. Second is a support email that appears in the form but no one actually monitors — this can leave account/data deletion requests unanswered and trigger a compliance review under Play's data safety policy.

A third common mistake is pointing both the support and privacy pages to the same generic link without clearly writing out how to request deletion on either. The rule isn't complicated: every URL should lead to a current, reachable page that actually fulfills its stated purpose.