Your app refund policy can't overrule Apple or Google, so write the one that matches what really happens

Paste a 30-day money-back guarantee into your terms and you've made a promise that only half your customers can collect. An app refund policy binds you only where you're the one issuing refunds. On the App Store that's nowhere, because Apple's developer agreement says you won't refund anyone. On Google Play it's everything after the first 48 hours, and Google expects you to follow whatever you wrote. The policy worth publishing is the one that describes what each store will actually do, then commits you only where you hold the button.

Who sets the refund rules for your app

Two contracts sit above anything you write. Apple's Developer Program License Agreement and Google's Developer Distribution Agreement each decide who refunds a purchase, and your own terms have to fit inside them.

On the App Store, Apple holds every refund

Section 3.4 of Apple's agreement is one sentence: you will not issue any refunds to end users of your app, and Apple may issue refunds under Schedule 2. Section 6.3 of Schedule 2 spells out when. If a customer wants to cancel within 90 days of download, or within a shorter auto-renewing subscription period, or says the app doesn't conform to your specifications, your warranty or the law, Apple may refund the full price. You then reimburse Apple for it.

Apple's customer-facing terms say the same thing from the other side. The Apple Media Services Terms state that all transactions are final, that Apple acts as an agent for app providers, and that the app provider is solely responsible for its content and warranties, subject to local law.

On Google Play, the policy is yours after 48 hours

Google's refund policy for buyers says a purchase made within the last 48 hours may be refundable through Google. After 48 hours, Google tells the customer to contact the developer, who can process refunds according to their policies and applicable laws. Play Console Help puts the duty on you plainly: you set your own refund policy, and you must issue refunds in accordance with it.

Do you need an app refund policy at all?

Neither store makes a page titled "Refund policy" mandatory. What they require is a place for terms to live and a clear story about cancellation.

• Apple's Schedule 2 requires apps that sell auto-renewing subscriptions to make links to a Privacy Policy and Terms of Use accessible inside the app.
• Apple's standard end user license agreement, which applies when you don't supply your own, says nothing about refunds. It disclaims warranties and stops there.
• If you write a custom EULA, Apple's minimum terms require it to say that when the app fails to conform to a warranty, the customer may notify Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price.
• Google Play's subscription policy requires your app to disclose clearly how a user can manage or cancel a subscription, and to offer an easy online way to cancel.

So for an App Store-only app, the refund section of your terms is mostly a signpost to Apple. For an app on Google Play, it's a real policy you'll be held to on every request that arrives after 48 hours.

"Can I offer a money-back guarantee on in-app purchases?"

A developer asked exactly this in the Apple Developer Forums in September 2023. Their service already offered a money-back guarantee through Stripe and PayPal, Apple had required them to add in-app purchase, and they wanted to know whether the guarantee could survive. The thread drew no answer from Apple or anyone else.

The agreements answer it. On the App Store you can't honor the guarantee yourself, because section 3.4 forbids you from issuing refunds, and Apple decides each request under its own terms. You can point customers to Apple's process and promise nothing beyond it. On Google Play you can. Play Console Help says you may implement a more flexible refund policy with your users directly, and you can refund an order in full or in part from Order management.

What a careless refund promise costs you

The words in your terms turn into money in three ways, and none of them is the refund itself.

On a Google Play order placed after August 3, 2026, that chargeback costs you the purchase price, less Play's service fee, plus a bank fee you don't set. The bank's decision is final.

Then there's what you've already paid for. A customer who burned through 400 AI generations, a month of cloud storage or a stack of paid API calls has run up real bills on your account. A refund returns their money and none of yours. A good app refund policy names that usage as the reason a used purchase isn't refundable, so the decline you send later quotes a rule the customer agreed to.

Rules Apple already wrote for you

Two lines in App Review Guideline 3.1.1 limit what an App Store refund policy can say. Credits or in-game currencies bought with in-app purchase may not expire, so a clause that lets unused credits lapse after a year doesn't fit. And gifted in-app purchases may only be refunded to the original purchaser, never to the person who received them.

Clauses worth putting in your app refund policy

Keep it short. Each clause should match what the store will actually do.

• App Store purchases: "Purchases made through the App Store are refunded by Apple, not by us. You can request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com."
• Google Play, first 48 hours: "Within 48 hours of purchase, you can request a refund from Google Play directly."
• Google Play, after 48 hours: "After 48 hours, contact us with your order ID. We refund purchases that didn't work as described. We don't refund credits or features that were delivered and used."
• Subscriptions: "Cancelling stops future renewals. You keep access until the end of the period you paid for, and the current period isn't refunded." That matches Google Play's general policy for cancelled subscriptions.
• Changes: "We'll tell you before we change this policy." Google makes notifying users your job.
• Your legal rights: "Nothing here limits refund rights you have under the law where you live."

Put the policy behind the Terms of Use link Apple already requires for subscriptions, and link it from your support screen. A customer who finds the answer in two taps doesn't need a bank.

What the stores do with your refund numbers

Your policy text never reaches Apple's reviewers. Your refund rate does. App Review Guideline 5.6.4 lists excessive refund requests, next to negative customer reviews, as an indication that an app isn't meeting the App Store's quality bar. Apple adds that an inability to maintain quality may be a factor in deciding whether a developer is following the Developer Code of Conduct.

What does reach the decision is evidence. Only two refund flows ask for it: Apple's CONSUMPTION_REQUEST, which gives you 12 hours to send consumption data, and Google Play's chargeback review, which gives you 24 hours to answer through orders.reviewrefund. RefundHalt answers both automatically, so the usage your policy points to actually arrives in front of the store before it decides.