Rank Sonar
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Integrations

Integration: Google Play Console

Connect your Google Play developer account to unlock own-app install metrics and revenue.

Connecting Google Play Console works similarly to App Store Connect: we read private analytics for your owned Android apps that aren't available via scraping.

What you'll get after connecting

  • Daily installs and uninstalls
  • Daily revenue by country and SKU
  • Acquisition reports (Play Store search, browse, third-party referrers)
  • Crash and ANR rates from the Android Vitals API
  • Custom Store Listing performance if you use them

Prerequisites

You need:

  1. A Google Cloud project (free)
  2. A Google Play Console account with permission to grant API access

Step-by-step

1. Create a Google Cloud service account

  1. Go to Google Cloud Console
  2. Create a new project (e.g., "ranksonar-integration") or use existing
  3. Enable the Google Play Android Developer API
  4. Go to IAM & Admin → Service Accounts → Create Service Account
  5. Name it "Rank Sonar Integration"
  6. Skip role assignment (we'll grant Play Console permissions separately)
  7. Once created, open the service account → Keys → Add Key → Create New Key → JSON
  8. Download the JSON key file

2. Grant Play Console access

  1. Go to Google Play Console
  2. Users and permissions → Invite new users
  3. Email: paste the service account email (looks like name@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com)
  4. App permissions: select the apps you want Rank Sonar to read
  5. Account permissions: enable View app information and View financial data
  6. Send invite

3. Upload to Rank Sonar

  1. In Rank Sonar, go to Integrations → Google Play Console
  2. Upload the JSON key file
  3. Click Connect

We encrypt the key at rest. Service account credentials are scoped to only the apps you grant access to in Play Console.

4. Map apps

After connecting, select which Rank Sonar apps to map to which Play Console apps.

What we read

  • /edits — read-only metadata access
  • /reports/installs — daily install/uninstall counts
  • /reports/financial — daily revenue
  • /inappproducts — IAP catalog
  • /vitals/crashrate — daily crash rate

We do not publish app updates, modify metadata, or change pricing.

Disconnecting

Integrations → Google Play Console → Disconnect removes the encrypted credentials immediately. You may also want to revoke access in Play Console (Users and permissions → service account → Remove access).

Troubleshooting

"403 Forbidden" — The service account doesn't have permission for that app in Play Console. Re-check the user invitation step.

"Reports unavailable" — Google Play reports lag 24-72 hours behind real-time. Brand new apps with under 1,000 lifetime installs may not appear in financial reports.

"Invalid JSON key" — The downloaded JSON file may be malformed. Generate a new key and try again.

See also