Apple Ads: Is Your App Owned by a French Company?
What the France eligibility question actually means, when to select Yes or No, and why agencies can get blocked from running campaigns

I was creating an Apple Ads campaign for France when Apple stopped the setup with this required question:

Is the app you’re promoting owned by a French company (i.e. a company that is either registered, established or otherwise located in France)?

At first, the question looks simpler than it is.

It is easy to read it as:

• Is the agency based in France?
• Is the Apple Ads account registered in France?
• Is the campaign targeting France?
• Is the person creating the campaign French?

That is not what Apple is asking.

Apple is asking about the legal owner of the app.

The Simple Answer

Select Yes when the company that owns the app is registered, established, or otherwise located in France.

Select No when the company that owns the app has no such connection to France.

The location of the agency, freelancer, media buyer, or employee creating the campaign does not decide the answer.

Here is the practical version:

The last example matters because Apple uses a broad definition. A “French Company” is not limited to a company incorporated in France. Apple also includes companies that are established or otherwise located in France.

How to Confirm Who Owns the App

Do not answer based on who pays the advertising invoice or who created the campaign.

Check the legal entity that owns and publishes the app through App Store Connect. In most cases, this is the entity connected to the app’s developer account and legal agreements.

The cleanest question to ask internally is:

Which legal company owns this app and is responsible for publishing it on the App Store?

If the answer is a French company, select Yes.

If the answer is a company outside France with no French establishment or location, select No, even when the campaign itself targets the French App Store.

Why Apple Asks This Question

This is not an audience-targeting question. It is a compliance question connected to French media-buying rules commonly known as the Sapin Law.

Apple’s France-specific terms say that an agent cannot undertake a campaign on behalf of, or for the benefit of, a French company on the France App Store. Apple defines a French company as one that is registered, established, or otherwise located in France.

Apple’s help documentation explains the operational result more directly: only the advertiser that owns both the app and the Apple Ads account can promote that app on the App Store in France.

That creates a problem for agencies.

The Agency Problem

Imagine this setup:

French company owns the app
→ Spanish agency owns the Apple Ads account
→ Agency creates a campaign targeting France

The campaign may be perfectly normal from a marketing perspective. The client gave permission. The agency manages paid acquisition. The campaign promotes the client’s own app.

But under Apple’s France rule, the agency is acting as an agent for a French advertiser. Apple says that setup is not eligible to run on the France App Store.

This is why the correct answer can block a campaign.

It does not mean you should select No to get past the screen. It means the account structure needs to match Apple’s France requirements.

What Happens When You Select Yes?

Selecting Yes tells Apple that the promoted app belongs to a French company.

Apple can then evaluate whether the person or account creating the campaign is acting as an agent, agency, or representative. When the campaign is being run from an agency-owned account on behalf of that French company, the France campaign may be ineligible or remain marked as incomplete.

Apple also says that account admins may need to answer the France-related question before the campaign status updates. If several users have the Admin role, Apple may require the relevant declarations from all of them.

The Correct Setup for a French App Owner

Based on Apple’s published guidance, the French advertiser should own:

1. The app.
2. The Apple Ads account used to promote it in France.

In other words, the campaign should not be run from an Apple Ads account owned by an outside agency.

The practical setup is:

French company owns the app
→ French company owns and controls the Apple Ads account
→ French company runs the France campaign

An agency can still provide strategy, keyword research, creative recommendations, reporting support, and campaign plans. However, Apple’s wording is restrictive about an agent undertaking the France campaign on behalf of the French company. Confirm any proposed account access or operating model directly with Apple Ads support before launching.

For a deeper breakdown of the agency restriction, see Can Agencies Run Apple Ads for French Companies?.

Can the Agency Run Campaigns in Other Countries?

This specific restriction concerns campaigns disseminated in France, including campaigns on the France App Store.

A French app owner may still advertise in other countries, but those campaigns should be reviewed separately under Apple’s country-specific terms. Do not assume that a France restriction automatically applies to every storefront, and do not assume every other market uses the same rules.

A clean account structure may separate France from other countries so eligibility, budgets, and reporting are easier to understand.

Do Not Answer Based on the Campaign Target

This is the mistake I would expect most people to make.

A US company can target France and still answer No, because the app is not owned by a French company.

A French company can target the United States and still be a French app owner, although the specific campaign restriction described here concerns advertising in France.

The question is about ownership first. The campaign territory determines where the France-specific rule becomes relevant.

Quick Decision Checklist

Before selecting an answer, check these three things:

1. Who legally owns the app?
2. Is that company registered, established, or otherwise located in France?
3. Is an agency or representative using its own Apple Ads account to run the campaign?

If the app owner is French, answer Yes.

If an outside agency is trying to run that app’s campaign in France, the answer is not to change the declaration. The answer is to correct the ownership and campaign setup.

The Takeaway

The Apple Ads question is not asking where you work or where the campaign will run.

It is asking whether the company that owns the app is French.

• French company owns the app: Yes.
• Non-French company owns the app and has no French establishment: No.
• Agency manages the campaign for a French app owner: still Yes.

And that final scenario is the important one. A correct Yes answer can reveal that the agency-owned account is not eligible to run the campaign on the France App Store.

Do not treat the question as a checkbox to get through campaign creation. Treat it as an account-ownership check.

Sources

• Apple Ads — Countries and Regions Specific Terms
• Apple Ads Help — Solve account setup and access issues

Information checked on August 3, 2026. This article explains Apple’s published platform rules and is not legal advice.