What is app-ads.txt and do I need one?
app-ads.txt is a plain text file you host on your developer website that lists which ad networks are authorised to sell your app's ad inventory — and yes, any app running programmatic ads should have one. It is an IAB Tech Lab standard, the mobile-app counterpart of ads.txt for websites. It works in three steps: your store listing declares a developer website, buyers crawl https://yourdomain.com/app-ads.txt, and any seller ID not listed there is treated as unauthorised inventory. Without the file, a growing share of programmatic buyers simply will not bid, so eCPM drops for reasons that look like a mystery in the dashboard. Setting it up is quick: put the developer website URL in your Play Console store listing, copy the lines your ad networks give you (AdMob, Unity and AppLovin each publish theirs), and serve the file at the domain root over HTTPS. Verification is not instant — crawlers usually pick it up within 24 to 48 hours.
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