Google Play wants student plans to say who qualifies, how you check, and the price after. One paywall, rewritten
Most student plans on Android say three words: "50% off, students." Google's October 29 policy update asks for more: who counts, how you verify them, and what happens to the price when they stop being a student. Google's deadline page lists January 27, 2027. Here's a paywall before and after.
Google Play's October 29, 2026 policy update says subscriptions with ongoing eligibility-based discounts, such as student plans, must clearly disclose the eligibility criteria, the verification process, and the pricing and benefit changes after eligibility ends. Google's Policy Deadlines page lists the change under January 27, 2027. For most apps the fix is copy and flow, not code: say who qualifies, say how and when you check, show the full price they'll move to and when, and repeat it where they confirm.
The rule, in one sentence
On October 29, Google published its latest round of Play policy changes. One line is about subscriptions, and it's short enough to quote: subscriptions with ongoing eligibility-based discounts, "such as student plans, must clearly disclose eligibility criteria, the verification process, and post-eligibility pricing and benefit changes."
Google's Policy Deadlines page lists that change under January 27, 2027. The announcement itself says developers have at least 30 days from October 29 to update apps, so treat January as the date to be finished by, not the date to start.
The rule names student plans, but it reads wider than that. Teacher discounts, military and first-responder pricing, senior plans, nonprofit rates and "under 25" offers are all discounts tied to who someone is, and they all last for as long as that stays true. If your app sells any of them through Play, the same three disclosures apply.
The good news is that this is mostly a writing job. Here's what that looks like on a real-sounding paywall.
Before: a paywall most apps would recognise
Take an illustrative language-learning app. Its paywall has three tiles: monthly, annual, and a student plan. The student tile says:
Student plan. 50% off. Verify your student status and save. Cancel anytime.
Tap it, and the app opens a third-party verification page in a browser. When the student comes back verified, they see the standard Play purchase sheet with the discounted annual price.
Measured against Google's three items, this paywall misses all of them. "Student" isn't defined: does a part-time adult learner count, or someone on a gap year, or a high-school student? "Verify your student status" says that checking happens, not how, by whom, or how often. And nothing on the screen says what happens when someone graduates. The student finds out when a full-price renewal arrives.
That last one is the most common complaint we hear about student plans, and it's the one the policy goes after most directly. A discount that hides its own end date isn't a discount the store will keep letting you sell.
A discount that hides its own end date isn't a discount the store will keep letting you sell.
After: the same tile, rewritten
Here's the same tile with the three disclosures added, in plain words, without turning it into a legal page:
Student plan: $X a year (half the standard price).Who qualifies: anyone currently enrolled at a college, university or accredited school, full- or part-time.How we check: you'll confirm your enrollment with [verification partner] using your school email or a document. We check again every 12 months.When you're no longer a student: your plan moves to the standard annual price of $Y at your next renewal after a check fails. You keep everything you had; only the price changes. We'll email you 14 days before.
The placeholders matter. Use your real prices, your real partner and your real re-check interval. If your app doesn't re-check, say how long the discount lasts instead: "for up to four years," for example. If losing eligibility also removes a feature, say so here. The policy calls out "benefit changes" alongside pricing.
The tile is longer, so the layout has to change. Most teams put the price and the one-line "who qualifies" on the tile, and the rest behind a "How the student plan works" link that opens a sheet on the same screen. That's fine, as long as the information is clear and in front of people before they pay, not buried in terms of service.
Decision guide
The same student tile, before and after
| Consideration | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Who qualifies | "Students." | Enrolled at a college or accredited school, full- or part-time. |
| How you check | "Verify your status." | Named partner, what's asked for, re-checked every 12 months. |
| What happens after | Not mentioned. | Standard price at next renewal, with 14 days' notice. |
Say it again where they confirm
A paywall is the first place someone reads the terms, but not the last. Three more places need the same facts.
The verification hand-off. Before you send someone to a browser to verify, tell them what they'll be asked for and what you'll do with it. "We'll share your name and school with [partner] to confirm enrollment. We don't keep your documents."
The screen after verification. When the student returns, show the post-eligibility price once more before the Play purchase sheet appears. The Play sheet shows what they're about to pay today. It won't explain what happens in a year.
The renewal reminder. When a re-check is coming, send a message that says so and repeats the price that follows if they no longer qualify. That's good practice even where no rule requires it, and it cuts down on refund requests and one-star reviews from graduates who feel caught out.
Also update your Play Store listing. If the listing mentions a student discount, it should carry the same definition and the same "what happens next" line, not a looser version of it.
How the work moves
Where the three disclosures appear
- Store listing
Same definition as the app.
- Paywall tile
Price, who qualifies, link to details.
- Verification hand-off
What's asked for and shared.
- Confirm screen
After-price shown again.
- Renewal reminder
Before each re-check.
What the policy doesn't change
This update is about disclosure. It doesn't ban student plans, set how often you re-verify, or require a particular verification partner. It also doesn't touch how Play Billing handles the subscription itself. If you already run the discount as a separate base plan or an offer in Play Console, that structure can stay.
What it does mean is that someone should own the words. In many app teams the paywall copy was written once, at launch, by whoever was free, and nobody has looked at it since. Pick a person, give them this note and a date in December, and ask for a version that answers the three questions on every screen where the student plan appears.
If your app also asks for more access than it needs, we wrote about the app that asks for every contact; the same October 29 update tightened that permission as well.
A short checklist before January 27
Find every place your app or listing offers an identity-based discount. For each one, write down who qualifies, how you verify, how often you re-check, and the price and benefits afterwards. Put all four on the paywall or one tap away from it, repeat the after-price on the confirmation screen, and send a reminder before a re-check. Then ship it in a December release, so you aren't racing the deadline with a holiday code freeze in the way.
If you'd like help rewriting a paywall, rebuilding the verification flow, or reviewing your app against the rest of the October update, that's the work our mobile applications team does. Talk to us before your December release.
Related work: Paddle8.
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