What are the rules for a referral or affiliate programme?

What the regulators and the stores say, in their own words

This page covers the United States and the United Kingdom only.

What that means if you have just launched

• You may pay commission. The affiliate must say so. The FTC's questions and answers suggest wording such as "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post", and say the closer the disclosure is to the recommendation, the better.
• In the UK, label it as an ad, at the start. CAP's advice suggests an identifier such as "Ad" at the beginning of a post. It says a disclaimer at the bottom is unlikely to be sufficient, and that a line saying the author "may" receive a commission is unlikely to be acceptable.
• Tell affiliates what to say, then check. The Guides say advertisers should give endorsers guidance, monitor their compliance and act on what they find. Google Play's App Promotion policy makes the developer responsible for whether affiliates associated with an app comply.
• A rewarded customer who posts in public discloses the reward. The FTC's answers say a disclosure is appropriate when someone shares a product because they are compensated, for example with a discount on a future purchase.
• Show the code. Do not write the email. In the ICO's guidance, a scheme that shows each customer a unique code and leaves it to them whether and how to share it is not instigating. A retailer that creates a marketing email for customers to send is. The ICO's Guide to PECR, which says it is under review, advises against asking customers for their friends' contact details.
• An affiliate who emails for you does not take the rule off you. The ICO's guidance says that when you ask another organisation to send your marketing you may still be responsible as the instigator, and both parties must comply. Cold email and DMs has the consent rules.
• Never reward a rating or a review in a store. Apple's guidelines say paid or incentivised feedback may get you expelled from the Apple Developer Program, that an app must not force users to rate or review it in order to use it, and that review prompts must use Apple's own API. Google Play lists asking for a rating while offering an incentive as a common violation.
• Outside the stores, never tie a reward to a good review. The FTC's answers on its review rule allow an incentive for a review only when nothing, said or implied, requires a particular sentiment. They add that failing to disclose the incentive could still break the FTC Act.

None of the store pages read here mentions a reward for inviting a friend, though guideline 5.6.3 of Apple's guidelines rules out manipulating referrals to an app. The other store rules are on App Store and Google Play, and creators paid a fee are on Influencers and paid posts.

The numbers

None of the pages read here sets a commission rate or the size of a reward. The figures they give:

• 21 October 2024. The day the FTC's rule on consumer reviews went into effect. It lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations.
• Three times in 365 days. How often Apple's ratings page says an app may prompt for a rating.

What the tracking software costs

Three tools that track affiliate sales publish prices, read on 8 October 2026. Each shows a 14 day free trial.

• Rewardful starts at $49 per month, for up to $7,500 a month in revenue attributed to affiliates, with a 0% transaction fee. Its prices are in USD and taxes are additional.
• FirstPromoter shows a Starter plan at $49 a month, for up to $5,000 a month in revenue from affiliates.
• Tolt shows a Basic plan at $69 a month, for up to $10,000 a month earned from affiliates.

The commission or reward comes on top. Count both in your customer acquisition cost and set that against lifetime value. A reward larger than what a customer pays you loses money on every referral.

How Sami uses it

Sami ranks referrals and affiliates against the other channels for your product and says why they are in or out. The plan puts free methods before paid ones.

AskSami never posts anywhere for you, never spends your money and never writes to your code. You do those things yourself. Recruiting affiliates, writing their terms and paying them stay with you. The numbers you bring back, such as referred signups and commission paid, become dated records. Signups and payments are tied to their source where the snippet in your product recorded one.