Cross-promotion inside a kids app portfolio: what worked across five titles.
A single app is a lottery ticket. Five related apps can send users to each other. Here is how the Gyan Studios portfolio did it, and the Families policy rules that still apply to your own apps.
The cheapest install a new app will ever get is from someone who already finished your last one.
What the portfolio did
The Gyan Studios titles were quiz games for Indian children aged 5 to 12, each built around a different cartoon character. Rather than grow one app forever, each new character became a new app. Children who completed one game were shown the next.
| Mechanic | What happened |
|---|---|
| Contextual prompts on level completion | An estimated 18–22% of installs on each subsequent title came from this network |
| Publisher authority | By the third title, category ranking within 72 hours instead of 3 to 5 weeks |
| Shared learnings | Each new title shipped with a smaller APK, IP-specific keywords and tested screenshots from day one |
| Four-week updates | Update notifications brought lapsed users back at an 11–15% re-install rate after major versions |
The whole portfolio reached 700,000+ installs with zero ad spend.
What Google Play's Families policy says
Cross-promotion is not exempt from the rules just because it is your own app. Google's Families policy covers all monetisation and advertising in an app, explicitly including cross-promotions of your own and third-party apps. Two specifics matter:
- No self-certified SDK needed for in-house promotion. Google permits in-house advertising, where you use SDKs to manage cross-promotion of your own apps, without an ads SDK's Families self-certification. You are still responsible for the ad content and data practices.
- The Families ad rules still apply. The promoted app must suit the host app's content rating, the prompt must not be deceptive or designed for accidental taps, it must be clear which app is showing it, and it can't block the child from using the app.
Policy wording changes. Read the current Families policy and the Families Self-Certified Ads SDK Program page in Play Console Help before shipping any cross-promotion. See also Designed for Families ASO.
How to design the prompt
- Show it at a natural end. After a finished level or quiz, never mid-play.
- Promote the obvious next thing. A child who loved one character's quiz will try the next character. Relevance did most of the work.
- Make it clearly a suggestion. A card with the other app's icon and name, a clear close button, and nothing that mimics a game button.
- Send them to the Play listing. The install happens on Google Play, where a parent can see what it is.
- Track it. Use a custom store listing URL for the prompt's link, so its visitors and CTR are reported separately.
Why it compounds
Every title adds users who can be offered the next one, ratings that build trust in the publisher name, and lessons the next listing starts with. That is why the portfolio's later titles ranked in days rather than weeks. It is also why we tell solo developers to think in series, not single apps.
Questions people ask
Can kids apps cross-promote other apps on Google Play?
Yes, within the Families policy. In-house promotion of your own apps doesn't need a self-certified ads SDK, but it must suit the host app's rating, be clearly identified and not cause accidental taps.
How much can cross-promotion contribute to installs?
In the Gyan Studios kids portfolio, contextual prompts on level completion drove an estimated 18–22% of installs for each new title.
Does an app portfolio help Google Play rankings?
It did for us: by the third title, new listings reached category ranking within 72 hours, against three to five weeks for the first.
Want this mapped onto your product?
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