Google App campaigns: how they work and what to budget

Google App campaigns are Google Ads campaigns built to promote a mobile app. You give Google a few lines of text, some images and videos, and its systems assemble the ads and show them on Google Search, YouTube, Discover, the Display Network and, for Android apps, Google Play. You do not choose keywords or placements: you choose a goal, what you are willing to pay for it, a budget, the countries and the languages.

That makes them quick to launch, and just as quick to waste money on. My view of Google Ads is that the tool is not that tricky, but you need to research your target before you spend. With App campaigns, that research goes into the parts Google cannot do for you, which this guide covers as of October 2026: the assets, the tracking and the numbers behind your budget. Where paid ads fit among your other launch channels is covered in my guide to launching a mobile app.

How Google App campaigns work

App campaigns used to be called Universal App Campaigns (UAC), a name older guides still use. Google’s help page About App campaigns lists where the ads can appear:

• Google Search, among the results;
• Google Play, for Android apps only;
• YouTube, where your videos do most of the work;
• Discover, the feed of articles in the Google app;
• the Google Display Network, the websites and apps that show Google ads, including apps that run ads through AdMob.

An iOS app can be advertised too, but Google Play only lists Android apps, so its ads run on Google’s other properties. App campaigns never place your app inside the App Store: that is Apple’s own ad system, covered in my Apple Ads tutorial.

Google mixes your assets into ads of different formats, tests the combinations and shows the best performers more often. Install ads lead to your store listing, so a weak listing wastes every click you pay for: my guide to App Store and Google Play listings shows how to make yours sell.

The three types of App campaign

When you create the campaign, you pick one of three subtypes:

For a new app, the choice is made for you: installs, or pre-registration if your Android app is not out yet.

The assets you give Google

The limits per ad group, from Google’s specifications as of October 2026:

• headlines: up to 5, 30 characters each;
• descriptions: up to 5, 90 characters each;
• images: up to 20, in horizontal (1.91:1), vertical (4:5) and square (1:1) formats;
• videos: up to 20, uploaded to YouTube first;
• HTML5 ads: optional, and most small teams can skip them.

Google recommends five headlines, five descriptions and a mix of images and videos: the more material it has, the more combinations it can test. A captioned screen recording of the app in use makes a fair first video.

Write each headline so it makes sense on its own, because Google mixes them. When I write copy, I start with what people complain about most, and the reviews of rival apps are full of it: if people reviewing other meal-planning apps say planning takes forever, “Plan your week in 5 min” answers them.

After launch, the asset report rates each asset once it leaves the Learning status: Low, Good or Best. Google’s advice: when you have reached the maximum, replace the Low assets, and add new ones in the style of the Best.

Bidding: choose what you pay for

You tell Google what to optimise for and, usually, what you want to pay for it on average:

For install volume, the target is optional. Leave the Set a target cost per install (optional) box unticked and the campaign uses Maximise conversions: Google gets as many installs as the budget allows and tries to spend all of it, so the budget becomes your only brake. Google suggests it for a launch, when volume matters more than the cost of each install. A target, for its part, is an average, not a cap: some installs will cost more, some less.

An install that is never opened is a cost, not a user. Once you can track a meaningful first action, such as a completed sign-up, consider moving to in-app actions so Google looks for the people who take it. For target ROAS, Google’s help asks for at least 10 conversions a day (300 over 30 days) and suggests a target CPA campaign first, to learn your starting return.

Setting your target cost per install

Work backwards from what a new user brings you. Say one install in 20 becomes a subscriber at £4.99 a month who stays four months on average: each install brings in about £1, before the store’s commission and VAT. Your target CPI has to sit well below that pound, or every install loses money.

How much to budget for a Google App campaign

Google’s best practices for App campaigns give the rule: when you optimise for install volume, set a daily budget of at least 50 times your target CPI. For in-app actions, the floor is 10 times your target CPA (another Google page says 10 to 15 times). The reason is data: the system needs enough conversions every day to learn who converts.

In money, that gives the table below. The targets are examples to show the arithmetic, not typical costs: what an install costs depends on your category, your countries and your assets. The monthly column uses Google’s general budget rule: a campaign can spend up to twice its daily budget on a given day, but you are not charged more than 30.4 times that budget in a month.

On top of these amounts, Google adds a 2% fee on ads served in the UK (and another 2% on ads served in France), plus VAT where it applies.

The rule also works backwards: divide your daily budget by 50 to find the highest target CPI it supports. With £20 a day, that is £0.40 per install; if installs in your category cost more, the campaign is likely to struggle to spend and to learn.

In that case, the money may work harder elsewhere first. My comparison of where to spend your app’s first £1,000 weighs Google against Apple Ads and Meta, and my article on SEO vs PPC explains when paying for each visit beats investing in rankings. Whatever you choose, treat the first month as a test you can afford to lose.

Tracking installs and in-app actions

App campaigns optimise on the conversions you send back to Google Ads, so set up tracking and test it before launch. Three sources can feed Google Ads:

1. Firebase (Google Analytics for Firebase), Google’s SDK for Android and iOS: your developer adds it to the app, and the events that matter, such as a sign-up or a purchase, are imported into Google Ads as conversions.
2. Google Play, for Android apps: Google Ads can measure installs through it, though its figures will not match the Play Console, which also counts installs that did not come from ads.
3. A third-party attribution partner, also called a mobile measurement partner, such as AppsFlyer or Adjust: useful when you advertise on several networks and want one source of truth.

Even if you start with installs, send your key in-app events from day one, so the data is there when you move to in-app actions.

iOS: less data, more modelling

On iPhone, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) rules oblige an app to ask permission before tracking people across other companies’ apps and websites, and people can say no. Google’s iOS best practices come down to four points:

• use on-device conversion measurement through Firebase: the matching happens on the phone, and nothing that identifies the user leaves it;
• let the Firebase SDK handle SKAdNetwork, Apple’s attribution framework, and set up a conversion value schema that covers the events you optimise for;
• decide whether the ATT prompt makes sense for your app: people who accept it give Google more observed conversions to learn from;
• keep to eight or fewer iOS install campaigns per app, as Google says more harms performance and SKAdNetwork reporting.

Expect more modelled conversions in iOS reports, and judge iOS campaigns on trends over weeks, not days.

Consent for users in Europe, the UK and Switzerland

If people in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland use your app, Google’s EU user consent policy requires you to collect their consent for the data your app shares with Google for advertising. That applies wherever your company is based: a UK app with users in France is concerned, and so is a Canadian app with users in Germany. In practice, it means a consent screen, then passing each person’s choice to the Firebase SDK, which Google calls consent mode for apps. My guide to GDPR consent and app privacy labels covers the screen itself and what to declare in the stores. This is general information, not legal advice: if your app handles health data, children’s data or financial details, an hour with a privacy lawyer or a DPO is worth it.

The first weeks: learning period and common mistakes

A new campaign goes through a learning period while Google works out who installs. Google advises allowing 7 to 14 days for the system to stabilise before you judge it, and avoiding changes of more than 20% to the budget or the target at a time.

After that, read each campaign: installs, cost per install, the cost of the in-app action you care about, and the asset report. Compare the cost per install with the target you worked out from what a user is worth, not with what feels cheap.

Besides the budget, tracking and asset mistakes covered above, watch one more: locations and languages that do not match your assets. Google shows the ads in the locations and languages you choose, and an English-only listing advertised in France is unlikely to convert well.

When to start, and a launch checklist

App campaigns are worth testing when your store listing already turns visitors into installs, your tracking works and the budget the 50x rule gives is money you can risk for a month. If one of those is missing, fix it first: the campaign multiplies what is already there, good or bad.

I give the same warning about every new channel: it is easy to chase the next shiny tool, so get the most from the channels that already bring you users before adding one you will not have time to watch. You do not need an agency for a first App campaign either; for Search ads that send people to your website, my guide to the basics of Google Ads covers the research to do first.

Before you launch, check that you have:

• an app live on Google Play or the App Store, or an Android app ready for pre-registration;
• tested tracking that sends installs and at least one in-app event to Google Ads;
• a consent screen for users in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland;
• five headlines, five descriptions, images in the three formats and at least one video;
• a target CPI worked out from what a user is worth, and a daily budget of at least 50 times that target;
• a date in your diary two weeks after launch, and no big changes before it.