1. Overview of app­-ads.txt

Authorized Sellers for Apps, or app-ads.txt, is an IAB initiative that helps protect your app ad inventory from ad fraud. You create app-ads.txt files to identify who is authorized to sell your inventory. Identifying authorized sellers can help you receive advertiser spend that might have otherwise gone toward counterfeit inventory of spoofed apps.

The app-ads.txt files are publicly available and collected by exchanges, supply-side platforms (SSP), and other buyers and third-party vendors.

Authorized Sellers for Apps (app-ads.txt) is an extension to the Authorized Digital Sellers (ads.txt) standard, originally designed for protecting web ad inventory. It extends compatibility to support ads shown in mobile apps.

Use of app-ads.txt is not mandatory, but is highly recommended, especially if you are concerned that others may be spoofing your app.

2. How app­ads.txt works

When a DSP intends to initiate a bid for certain application traffic, it will scan the appads.txt file on the developer or publisher's website to verify which advertising platforms have the right to sell the application's traffic. The DSP only accepts authorized bid requests listed in the document.

IAB's technical specifications define the format of each line record in the app-ads.txt file. Each line of Entry has 4 attributes. The specific meanings are shown in the following figure:

3. The role of app-ads.txt

Guaranteeing advertising revenue appads.txt improves advertisers’ trust in the advertising traffic they want to buy, allowing developers to obtain higher profits from advertisers. In the process of mobile programmatic advertising transactions, advertisers have higher and higher requirements for authentic traffic. DSP‘s will no longer purchase advertising traffic that lacks app-ads.txt files. Apps that have not implemented app-ads.txt may be transferred from DSP’s target media. Or "disappear" from the whitelist.

To prevent ad fraud, the deployment of app-ads.txt will prevent unauthorized developers from using brand advertising traffic, and crackdown on fraudulent acts of illegally counterfeiting and peddling the advertising resources of regular developers, minimize fraud, and protect developers’ Advertising revenue.

4. How to configure app-ads.txt file

1. Prepare Developer Website

To configure the app-ads.txt file, developers need to have their own official website of the application, and the URL provided to the app store must correspond to the official website of their own application.

 

📕 Pay Attention：

If your application is not yet available, or is already online, but you have not added an official website. You need to add your official website URL to the store -iOS apps need to confirm that domain.com is placed in the iOS App Store Marketing URL column -Android applications need to confirm that domain.com is placed in the Google Play Store Developer Website column.

If your application has been published and the official website has been added, you can proceed to the subsequent app-ads.txt file configuration.

 

2. Obtain app-ads.txt files for each platform

 📕 First: Create a new txt file and name it app-ads.txt

2.1 AdTiming

📕 First, in the AdTiming dashboard, click Apps → View All Apps → app-ads.txt interface, copy the app-ads.txt field and paste it into your txt file.

2.2 Google Admob

📕 In the Google AdMob Dashboard, click AdMob application interface → APP-ADS.TXT → How to set up the APP-ADS.TXT interface, copy the app-ads.txt field and paste it into your txt file.

 

2.3 Facebook

📕 First, in the AdTiming dashboard, click Apps → View All Apps → app-ads.txt interface, copy the app-ads.txt field and paste it into your txt file.

Log in to your account to enter the Facebook BM account, click on the upper left corner to enter the Business Settings interface, click on the Business Info module in the left navigation bar to obtain the Business Manager ID.

Or go to Data Source → Properties in the left navigation bar, select the corresponding Property to obtain the Property ID.

Edit the Facebook app-ads.txt field and paste it into your txt file: facebook.com, [Business ID or Property ID ], RESELLER, c3e20eee3f780d68 Extended reading: "Facebook appads.txt official website guide"

2.4 AppLovin

 📕 In the Applovin Dashboard, enter Account → app-ads.txt Info interface, copy all app-ads.txt code and paste it into your txt file.

2.5 Unity ads

📕 In the Unityads Dashboard, go to Operate→Setting interface, copy all app-ads.txt code and paste it into your txt file.

2.6 Mintegral

📕 In Mintegral Dashboard, go to Account → Account Info to obtain the Publisher ID.

Mintegral's appads.txt code field is mintegral.com, [Publisher ID], DIRECT, modify it to add your Publisher ID and copy and paste it into your txt file.

2.7 Chartboost

📕 In the Chartboost Dashboard, go to Dashboard → Tools → app-ads.txt interface, copy all appads.txt codes and paste them into your txt file.

2.8 Tapjoy

📕 In the Tapjoy Dashboard, go to the Manage My Account → app-ads.txt interface, copy all the app-ads.txt code and paste it into your txt file.

2.9 IronSource

📕 In the ironSource Dashboard, go to My Account → API to obtain Publisher ID.

Enter the "ironSource appads.txt official website guide" to get the appads.txt file configuration code.

Modify the Publisher ID, copy the code and paste it into your txt file.

2.10 Vungle

📕 In the Vungle Dashboard, enter your account to obtain an Account ID.

Enter "Vungle appads.txt official website guide" to get the appads.txt file configuration code.

Paste all the app-ads.txt fields into your txt file and modify the Account ID.

2.11 Mopub

 📕 In the MoPub Dashboard, enter the Account Setting interface to obtain the Publisher ID.

MoPub's appads.txt code field is mopub.com, [pub id], DIRECT, 74b46c0ea83967ca, modify it and add it to your Publisher ID and copy and paste it into your txt file.

Extended reading: "MoPub appads.txt official website guide"

3. Complete and save as a txt file

📕 Finish editing and save the txt file in UTF-8.

💡 Example of the edited app-ads.txt file

4. Publish the app-ads.txt file in the root directory of the developer website

1. Make sure that the app-ads.txt file is placed in the root directory of the official website and can be accessed through the root domain.
2. Make sure the app store link is correct
   • iOS App Store Marketing URL 栏目放置domain.com
   • Google Play Store Developer Website 栏目放置domain.com
   • Please do not set the store link to domain.com/appads.txt, the system will not be able to fetch it
3. Ensure that the application has traffic: the system will capture the mapping file only if there is traffic.

5. Verify the authentication status of the app-ads.txt file

After publishing the app-ads.txt file in the root directory of the developer website, you can enter http://domain.com/app-ads.txt in the browser by yourself Check whether the addition is successful, and check the verification result on the corresponding platform after 24 hours.

 

5.1 AdTiming

If your app is not yet available or has not been linked to an app store in the background. There will be no corresponding applications in the appads.txt interface of AdTiming. You need to put the app on the shelf and link the app to the store in App Setting before you can authenticate your file in the appads.txt interface.

If the app is on the shelves but the following picture appears, it means that the AdTiming backend has not gone to the app store to crawl your website, and it usually takes 35 days to wait.

If the app-ads.txt interface has collected the store's official website and app-ads.txt is successfully published in the root directory of your official website. You can manually click Vertify for authentication.

5.2 AdMob

It can take up to 24 hours for AdMob to collect and verify your appads.txt file. Please wait at least 24 hours for the system to update the status of appads.txt.

Select all applications in the application interface-app-ads.txt module, and check whether the txt file is successfully captured.

After publishing the app-ads.txt file in the root directory of the developer website, you can enter http://domain.com/appads.txt in the browser by yourself Check whether the addition is successful, and check the verification result on the corresponding platform after 24 hours.