app-ads.txt file

In app-ads.txt, app owners indicate a list of advertising networks and their partners that can sell placements in the app. Developers publish app-ads.txt independently.

The ads.txt protocol is one of the online advertising industry standards developed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Ads stands for authorized digital sellers.

Why publish app-ads.txt

The Yandex Advertising Network displays ads from direct Yandex advertisers and other DSP networks. This means that more advertisers compete for the right to display ads in your app and ads are selected for users from different countries and regions. As a result, income from monetization grows.

Some DSP networks use app-ads.txt to check which advertising networks are authorized: such advertising networks can display ads in the app and do not purchase ad impressions if there is no app-ads.txt.

In addition, app-ads.txt is one of the ways to confirm access to the app. The Yandex Advertising Network uses app-ads.txt to check that ad units in the app are configured by users who actually have access to it.

If app-ads.txt has already been published

Add the lines from the Yandex Advertising Network to the published file. An individual code snippet can be obtained in the interface. To do this, in the left menu, go to Settings → General and click app-ads.txt.

How to create and publish app-ads.txt

Step 1. Check or enter the URL of the developer's site in the app store

Make sure that the correct site is shown in the app stores. Advertising platforms will use it to search and verify the app-ads.txt file.

If you don't have your own site, we recommend creating one.

Step 2. Get the necessary lines for app-ads.txt

In the Yandex Advertising Network, an individual code snippet can be obtained in the interface. To download the file with the necessary lines, in the left menu, go to Settings → General and click app-ads.txt.

Line structure

The line contains the domain of the advertising platform, the partner ID, and the type of relationships with the seller.

Example: example.com, 1234, DIRECT.

The types of relationships with the seller can be:

• DIRECT: Advertising networks with which you cooperate directly.
• RESELLER: Partners that use third-party intermediaries to sell media kits.

We don't recommend adding information about companies you don't work with to the code.

Step 3. Create a file

Open any text editor (such as Notepad), list the lines from all advertising networks, and save the file as app-ads.txt.

Step 4. Upload the file

Add the app-ads.txt file to the root directory of the developer's site. A root directory is the folder that follows the top-level domain (such as example.com/app-ads.txt).

To check whether the file was uploaded correctly, add app-ads.txt to the app domain name in your browser's address bar (such as example.com/app-ads.txt) and press Enter.

Step 5. Update the file regularly

Advertising network partners may change. We recommend regularly checking the relevance of the app-ads.txt file. For iOS and Android apps, the relevance of the file can be tracked in the Yandex Advertising Network interface.

Statuses of app-ads.txt

For apps from Google Play and App Store, the Yandex Advertising Network checks the app-ads.txt file on the developer site specified on your app's page in the store, once a day. If the file is found and there are no errors in the Yandex Advertising Network lines, the status will appear in the interface as We checked the file app-ads.txt, information on the Yandex Advertising Network is relevant.

If the file is not found or contains errors, the status will report this. Depending on the status, solve the issue:

Status	How to solve the issue
There is no data about the file app-ads.txt, since the developer’s website was not found	Add the developer's site to the app's page in Google Play or App Store. The Yandex Advertising Network will use it to search and check the app-ads.txt file. Also make sure that the file is added to the site's root directory. If the site is specified, but you see this status in the interface, contact support.
File app-ads.txt outdated	Update the app-ads.txt file on the developer's site. To do this, click Download the file app-ads.txt, copy the new lines, and add them to your file.
File app-ads.txt not found on the site	Add theapp-ads.txt file to the developer's site root directory by following the instructions. The file must be placed directly in the root directory, which is the folder immediately following the top-level domain. The file's address should look like this: example.com/app-ads.txt. If the file is located at the specified address, but this status has appeared in the interface, contact support.

How it looks in the interface

Contact support