Google Maps Platform security guidance

Apps and projects that use the Google Maps Platform APIs and SDKs must use API keys or, if supported, OAuth 2.0, to authenticate themselves.

These best practices show you how to secure your Maps Platform access.

If you want to use OAuth 2.0 to authorize server-to-server traffic, look for the OAuth topic in your API documentation. See Use OAuth for server-side apps for more details.

In addition to applying application and API key restrictions, follow any security practices that apply to specific Google Maps Platform products. For example, see the Maps JavaScript API below in Recommended application and API restrictions.

If your API keys are already in use, review the recommendations below in If you are restricting an API key that's in use.

For more details about digital signatures, supported by Maps Static API and Street View Static API, see the Digital Signature Guide.

Recommended best practices

For increased security and to avoid being billed for unauthorized use, follow these API security best practices for all Google Maps Platform APIs, SDKs, or services:

Restrict your API keys

Use separate API keys for each app

Delete unused API keys

Check your API key usage

Be careful when rotating API keys

Split client-side and server-side usage into separate projects

Disable unused services

Additional recommendations for client-side apps

Use client-side SDKs

Secure client-side web service calls

Additional recommendations for websites or client-side apps using Static Web APIs

Protect Static Web API usage

Additional recommendations for server-side apps using web services

Protect web service API keys

Use OAuth for server-side apps

If you are restricting or rotating an API key that's in use

  • Before you change the API key, Check your API key usage This step is especially important if you are adding restrictions for a key that is already in use in a production application.

  • After you change the key, update all of your apps with the new API keys, as needed.

  • If your API key has not been compromised and is not actively abused, you can migrate your apps to multiple new API keys at your own pace, leaving the original API key untouched until you only observe one type of traffic, and the API key can safely be restricted with a single type of application restrictions without causing unintended service disruptions.

    For further instructions, see Migrate to multiple API keys.

    Monitor the usage over time, and see when specific APIs, platform types, and domains have migrated off the old API key before you choose to restrict or delete the old key. For more information, see Reporting and monitoring and Metrics

  • If your API key has been compromised, you want to move more quickly to secure your API key and stop the abuse. In Android and iOS apps, keys aren't replaced until customers update their apps. Updating or replacing keys in on webpages or in server-side apps is much more straightforward, but may still require careful planning and fast work.

    For more information, see Handle unauthorized use of an API key.

More information

Recommended application and API restrictions

Restrict your API keys

Best practice is to always restrict your API keys with one type of application restrictions and one or more API restrictions. For suggested restrictions by API, SDK, or JavaScript service, see Recommended application and API restrictions below.

  • Application restrictions You can limit the use of an API key to specific platforms: Android or iOS applications, or specific websites for client-side applications, or specific IP addresses or CIDR subnets for server-side apps issuing web service REST API calls.

    You restrict a key by adding one or more application restrictions of the types you want to authorize, after which only requests originating from these sources are permitted.

  • API restrictions You can restrict which Google Maps Platform APIs, SDKs, or services on which your API key can be used. API restrictions only allow requests to the APIs and SDKs you specify. For any given API key, you can specify as many API restrictions as needed. The list of available APIs includes all APIs enabled on a project.

Set an application restriction for an API key

  1. Open the Google Cloud console Google Maps Platform Credentials page.

  2. Select the API key that you want to restrict.

  3. On the Edit API key page, under Key restrictions, select Set an application restriction.

    Edit API key page

  4. Select one of the restriction types and supply the requested information following the restriction list.

    Restriction type Description
    Websites Specify one or more referrer websites.
    • The universally supported referrer URI schemes are https and http. Other schemes are not guaranteed to work correctly, since modern web browsers will for privacy reasons not send a `Referer` header in outgoing requests.
    • Always provide the whole referrer string, including the protocol scheme, hostname and optional port (e.g., https://google.com).
    • You can use wildcard characters to authorize all subdomains. For example, https://*.google.com accepts all sites ending in .google.com.
    • Be careful when authorizing full-path referrers, for example, https://google.com/some/path, since most web browsers will for privacy reasons strip the path from cross-origin requests.
    IP addresses Specify one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, or subnets using CIDR notation. The IP addresses must match the source address the Google Maps Platform servers observe. If you use network address translation (NAT), this address typically corresponds to your machine's public IP address.
    Android apps Add the Android package name (from the AndroidManifest.xml file) and the SHA-1 signing certificate fingerprint of each Android application you want to authorize. If you use Play App Signing, to fetch the signing certificate fingerprint, see Working with API Providers. If you manage your own signing key, see Self-signing your application or refer to the instructions for your build environment.
    iOS apps Add the bundle identifier of each iOS application you want to authorize.

    For recommendations for an application restriction, see Recommended application Restriction.

  5. Select Save.

Set API restrictions for an API key

  1. Open the Google Cloud console Google Maps Platform Credentials page.

  2. Select the API key that you want to restrict.

  3. On the Edit API key page, under API restrictions:

    • Select Restrict key.

    • Open Select APIs and select the APIs or SDKs you want your application to access using the API key.

    If an API or SDK is not listed, you need to enable it. For details, see To enable one or more APIs or SDKs.

    Restrict an API on the Edit API key page

  4. Select Save.

    The restriction becomes part of the API key definition after this step. Be sure you provide the appropriate details and select Save to save your API key restrictions. For further information, see the Get an API Key guide in the documentation for the specific API or SDK you are interested in.

For recommended API restrictions, see Recommended API Restrictions.

Check your API key usage

If you're restricting API keys after they've been created, or if you want to see what APIs are being used by a key so you can restrict them, you want to check your API key usage. These steps show you in which services and API methods an API key is being used. If you see any usage beyond Google Maps Platform services, investigate to determine if you need to add more restrictions to avoid unwanted use. You can use the Google Maps Platform Cloud Console Metrics explorer to help determine which API and application restrictions to apply to your API key:

Determine the APIs that use your API key

The following metrics reports allow you to determine which APIs are using your API keys. Use these reports to do the following:

  • See how your API keys are used
  • Spot unexpected usage
  • Help verify if an unused key is safe to delete. For information about deleting an API key, see Delete unused API keys.

When applying API restrictions, use these reports to create a list of APIs to authorize, or to validate automatically-generated API key restriction recommendations. For more information about recommended restrictions, see Apply recommended restrictions. For more information about using the Metrics explorer, see Create charts with Metrics explorer .

  1. Go to the Google Cloud console's Metrics explorer

  2. Sign in and select the project for the API keys you want to check.

  3. Go to the Metrics explorer page for your type of API:

  4. Inspect each API key:

    1. Select ADD FILTER.

    2. Select the label credential_id.

    3. Select the value corresponding to the key you want to inspect.

    4. Note which APIs this API key is being used for, and confirm the use is expected.

    5. Once done, select Remove filter at the end of the active filter line to delete the extra filter.

  5. Repeat for any remaining keys.

  6. Restrict your API keys to only the APIs that are being used.

  7. If you spot unauthorized use, see Handle unauthorized use of an API key.

Choose the correct type of application restriction using the Metrics explorer

After you have verified and taken any needed actions to ensure your API key is only used for the Google Maps Platform services it is using, also ensure the API key has the correct application restrictions.

If your API key has recommended API key restrictions, apply them. For more information, see Apply recommended API key restrictions.

If your API key doesn't have restriction recommendations, determine the type of application restriction to apply, based on the reported platform_type using the Metrics explorer:

  1. Go to the Google Cloud console's Metrics explorer

  2. Sign in and select the project for the APIs you want to check.

  3. Go to this Metrics explorer page: Metrics explorer.

  4. Inspect each API key:

    1. Select ADD FILTER.

    2. Select the label credential_id.

    3. Select the value corresponding to the key you want to inspect.

    4. Once done, select Remove filter at the end of the active filter line to delete the extra filter.

  5. Repeat for any remaining keys.

  6. Once you have the platform type for your API keys, apply the application restriction for that platform_type:

    PLATFORM_TYPE_JS : Apply Website restrictions on the key.

    PLATFORM_TYPE_ANDROID : Apply Android application restrictions on the key.

    PLATFORM_TYPE_IOS : Apply iOS application restrictions on the key.

    PLATFORM_TYPE_WEBSERVICE : You may have to rely on IP address restrictions on the key, to properly restrict it.

    For recommendations for Maps Static API and Street View Static API, see Protect Static Web API usage.

    For Maps Embed API recommendations, see Websites with the Maps Embed API.

    My API key is using multiple platform types: Your traffic can't be properly secured with just a single API key. You need to migrate to multiple API keys. For more information, see Migrate to multiple API keys.

Use separate API keys for each app

This practice limits the scope of each key. If one API key is compromised, you can delete or rotate the impacted key without needing to update your other API keys. You can create up to 300 API keys per project. For more information, see Limits on API keys.

While one API key per application is ideal for security purposes, you can use restricted keys on multiple apps as long as they use the same type of application restriction.

Apply recommended API key restrictions

For some project owners, editors and API key administrators, the Google Cloud console suggests specific API key restrictions to unrestricted API keys based on their Google Maps Platform usage and activity.

If available, recommendations appear as pre-filled options on the Google Maps Platform Credentials page.

Google Maps Platform APIs and SDKs supported by the automated recommendations

  • Maps JavaScript API, including Directions Service (Legacy), Distance Matrix Service (Legacy), Elevation Service, Geocoding Service Place class, Place Autocomplete Widget (New), Place Autocomplete Data API, Places Library, Places Service & Place Autocomplete Widget

  • Maps Static API and Street View Static API

  • Maps Embed API

  • Maps SDK for Android, Places SDK for Android and Navigation SDK for Android

  • Maps SDK for iOS, Places SDK for iOS, Places Swift SDK for iOS and Navigation SDK for iOS

Reasons you may not see a recommendation, or an incomplete one

Reasons for seeing no recommendation

  • You are (also) using the API key on other than Google Maps Platform services, or or Maps Platform services that are not yet supported by the automatic recommendations.

    If you see usage on other services, don't apply the recommendation without first doing the following:

    1. Verify that the API usage you see in the Google Cloud console Metrics explorer is legitimate.

    2. Manually add missing services to the list of APIs to be authorized.

    3. Manually add any missing application restrictions for the services added to the API list. If your other added would require a different type of application restrictions, see Migrate to multiple API keys.

  • Your API key is not used in client-side SDKs or APIs.

  • You use the API key in a low-volume app or website that has not seen usage over the last 60 days.

  • You have created a new key very recently, or you have very recently deployed an existing key in a new app. If this is the case, just wait a few more days to allow the recommendations to update.

  • You are using the API key in multiple applications that would require conflicting types of application restrictions, or you are using the same API key in too many different apps or websites. In either case, as a best practice, you should migrate to multiple keys. For more details, see Migrate to multiple API keys.

Reasons for seeing an incomplete recommendation

  • You use the API key in a low-volume app or website that has not seen usage over the last 60 days.

  • You have very recently started using a existing key on a new API or service, and the automatic API key restriction recommendation pipeline, has not yet processed the updated usage metrics. The propagation of usage metrics may take a few days.

    If you see usage on other services, don't apply the recommendation without first doing the following:

    1. Verify that the API usage you see in the Google Cloud console Metrics explorer is legitimate.

    2. Manually add missing services to the list of APIs to be authorized.

    3. Manually add any missing application restrictions for the services added to the API list. If your other added would require a different type of application restrictions, see Migrate to multiple API keys.

    4. Unless you urgently need to restrict a key, for example, due to unauthorized use, you might also wait a day or two for the recommendations to catch up.

Reasons you might see recommendations that are not visible in the charts

  • Your app or website sent only very short traffic bursts. In this case, switch from a CHART view to display a TABLE or BOTH, as the usage is still visible in the legend. For more information, see Toggling the chart's full legends.

  • Your traffic is from the Maps Embed API. For instructions, see Determine the APIs that use your API key.

  • The traffic from the app or website is outside the date range available in the Google Cloud console Metrics explorer.

  1. Open the Google Cloud console Google Maps Platform Credentials page.

  2. If available, select Apply recommended restrictions.

    Apply recommended restrictions

  3. Select Check API usage to verify which services the API key is being used on. If you see other than Google Maps Platform services, pause to manually review the recommendation steps above. See the troubleshooting steps at the beginning of section Apply recommended API key restrictions.

  4. Double-check that the pre-filled restrictions match the websites and apps where you expect to use your API key.

    Best Practice: Document and remove any application or API restrictions that are not affiliated with your services. If something breaks due to an unexpected dependency, then you can add the required apps or APIs back in.

    • If you recognize that an app, website or API is clearly missing from your recommendation, add it manually or wait a couple of days to allow the recommendation to update.

    • If you need further help with your suggested recommendation, contact support.

  5. Select Apply.

What to do if your application gets rejected after applying a recommendation

If you notice that an app or website gets rejected after applying a restriction, look for the application restriction you need to add in the API response error message.

Client-side SDKs and APIs

Browser and webview based apps

Modern browsers typically redact the Referer header in cross-origin request for privacy reasons, often stripping it down to the Origin. However, the exact behavior depends on the applied referrer-policy of the hosting site, and may also vary, based on the user browser and version.

Web applications using opaque or local URI schemes for loading content will typically have the rendering browser or webview completely redact the Referer header from any outgoing calls, which may cause requests to fail using API keys with website restrictions.

For further guidance, see Host your browser based apps on a server.

Troubleshooting instructions for browser and webview based apps:

  • For Maps JavaScript API, see the browser debug console for details on how to authorize your application.

    Exotic URI schemes are partially supported. If parts of your application don't work it an exotic URI scheme, even after authorizing the required referrer, you will likely need to host your application remotely on a server and load it over HTTPS (or HTTP).

    If you need help with exotic URI schemes, contact support.

  • Other Maps Platform APIs will generally return the referrer you need to authorize in the API error response, presuming the client sent this information with the rejected request.

    Exotic URI schemes are not supported.

Android apps

Use Android Debug Bridge (adb) or Logcat

iOS apps

See Viewing Log Messages

Apps calling web services directly

For applications calling Maps Platform HTTPS REST API or gRPC endpoints directly without a client-side Google Maps Platform SDK, see below:

Android and iOS apps

If your Android or iOS application calls Maps Platform services directly without using any of the available Google Maps Platform client SDKs, see Android apps and iOS apps for further troubleshooting tips, and Secure client-side web service calls for current best security practices for mobile use cases.

If your app logs Maps Platform API error responses, the above instructions for client-side SDKs may also prove useful for troubleshooting authentication issues.

Server-side apps

Server-side applications relying on API keys are best secured through IP address restrictions. If you have applied IP address restrictions to your key, and your service logs Maps Platform API error responses, check your system logs for further information. The error response will include the server IP address that you need to authorize.

Browser or webview based apps

While Maps Static API, Street View Static API more recent Google Maps Platform APIs will also support referrer restrictions, note that web browsers or webviews will likely restrict the Referer header to the Origin for cross-origin requests, and will likely omiy sending it altogether, e.g., for locally accessed resources, or for resources served over protocols other than HTTP or HTTPS.

If you can't use Maps JavaScript API in your application, and website restrictions don't work, see Secure client-side web service calls for how to issue Maps Platform web service calls securely from within your browser based client-side application.

Checking API restrictions

To check your required API restrictions, see Determine the APIs that use your API key.

If you are unable to determine which restrictions to apply:

  1. Document the current restrictions for future reference.
  2. Remove them temporarily while you investigate the issue. You can check your usage over time using the steps in Check your API key usage.
  3. If needed, contact support.

Delete unused API keys

Before you delete an API key, make sure that it is not used in production. If there is no successful traffic, the key is likely safe to delete. For more information, see Check your API key usage.

To delete an API key:

  1. Open the Google Cloud console Google Maps Platform Credentials page.

  2. Select the API key you want to delete.

  3. Select the Delete button near the top of the page.

  4. On the Delete credential page, select Delete.

    Deleting an API key takes a few minutes to propagate. After propagation completes, any traffic using the deleted API key is rejected.

Be careful when rotating API keys

Rotating an API key creates a new key that has all the old key's restrictions. During this time window, both the old and new key are accepted, giving you a chance to migrate your apps to use the new key.

Before rotating an API key:

  • First try to restrict your API keys as described in Restrict your API keys.

  • If restricting your API key is not possible due to conflicting application restriction types, migrate to multiple new (restricted) keys as described in Migrate to multiple API keys. Migrating lets you control the migration and roll out timeline to the new API keys.

If the preceding suggestions aren't possible, and you must rotate your API key to prevent unauthorized use, then follow these steps:

  1. Open the Google Cloud console Google Maps Platform Credentials page.

  2. Open the API key you want to rotate.

  3. At the top of the page, select Rotate key.

  4. Optionally, change the API key name.

  5. Select Create.

  6. Update your applications to use the new key.

After you have updated your applications to using the new key, delete the old key by clicking the Delete the previous key button under the Previous Key section of the new API key page.

Migrate to multiple API keys

To migrate from using one API key for multiple apps to a single unique API key for each app, do the following:

  1. Identify which apps need new keys:

    • Web apps are the easiest to update, since you control all of the code. Plan to update all of your web-based apps' keys.
    • Mobile apps are much harder, since your customers must update their apps before the new keys can be used.

  2. Create and restrict the new keys: Add both an application restriction and at least one API restriction. For more information, see Recommended best practices.

  3. Add the new keys to your apps: For mobile apps, this process may take months until all of your users update to the latest app with the new API key.

Split client-side and server-side usage into separate projects

If you need to call Google Maps Platform services both from server-side applications and directly from client-side applications running end-user devices, Google recommends splitting up your usage between two separate projects.

This approach lets you apply appropriate per-minute, per-user quota limits on most Google Maps Platform services on your client-side project, helping ensure all end users get their fair share fair of your overall project quota without impacting each other.

However, since per-user quota restrictions impact both client-side and server-side applications, if you also require high bandwidth for your server-side jobs, set up a separate project for this use case, configured with a higher, or no, per-user quota limit.

Disable unused services

Don't leave unused services enabled on a project, as this practice is vulnerable to abuse, especially if you have not restricted all your public API keys. As a best practice, only enable a service on a project once it is needed by your applications.

Adding API restrictions on a key prevent its use on services that it hasn't been authorized for, but API restrictions only apply to that specific key. Disable a service at the project level to prevents unauthorized use of the service on any key linked to the project.

Use client-side SDKs

When using provided client-side Google Maps Platform SDKs, you will always be able to apply proper restrictions to your API key to secure your service usage.

Using client-side SDKs will also allow you to adopt more advanced security mechanism, such as Firebase App Check on the Maps Platform API surfaces that support it. See Use App Check to secure your API key for further details.

If client-side SDKs are not available for your platform, see Secure your client-side web service calls.

For the availability of client-side Google Maps Platform SDKs for different platforms, see Recommended application and API restrictions.

Protect Static Web API usage

Static Web APIs, such as the Maps Static API and Street View Static API, are similar to web service API calls.

You call both using an HTTPS REST API, and you typically generate the API request URL on the server. However, instead of returning a JSON response, Static Web APIs generate an image that you can embed in generated HTML code. More importantly, it is generally the end-user client, not the server, that calls the Google Maps Platform service.

Use a digital signature

As a best practice, always use digital signatures in addition to an API key. Also, review how many unsigned requests you want to allow per day and adjust your unsigned request quotas accordingly.

For more details about digital signatures, see the Digital Signature Guide.

Protect your signing secret

To protect Static Web APIs, don't embed your API signing secrets directly in code or in the source tree, or expose them in client-side applications. Follow these best practices for protecting your signing secrets:

  • Generate your signed Maps Static API and Street View Static API request URLs server-side when serving a web page, or in response to a request from your mobile application.

    For static web content, you can use the Sign a URL now widget on the Cloud Console Google Maps Platform Credentials page.

    For dynamic web content, see the available URL request signing code samples.

  • Store signing secrets outside of your application's source code and source tree. If you put your signing secrets or any other private information in environment variables or include files that are stored separately and then share your code, then signing secrets are not included in the shared files. If you store signing secrets or any other private information in files, keep the files outside your application's source tree to keep your signing secrets out of your source code control system. This precaution is particularly important if you use a public source code management system, such as GitHub.

Protect web service API keys

For secure use of Google Maps Platform APIs and services from client-side apps, see Use client-side SDKs and Secure client-side web service calls.

Store API keys outside of your application's source code or source tree. If you put your API keys or any other information in environment variables or include files that are stored separately and then share your code, the API keys are not included in the shared files. This is particularly important if you use a public source code management system, such as GitHub.

To help shield your web service API key against accidental use, Google recommends applying API restrictions to any key used for Maps Platform. Furthermore, also applying IP address restrictions to your web service key will protect it against help protect it against unauthorized use from other source IP addresses, even if the key accidentally leaks.

Use OAuth for server-side apps

OAuth 2.0 is an open standard for access delegation.

While the OAuth 2.0 protocol supports use cases, where an end user authorizes an application to access personal data on their behalf, the intended use case for OAuth 2.0 with Maps Platform is for the developer to utilize temporary access tokens for authorizing their application to call an API on behalf of their Google Cloud project service account with the permissions of the service account.

As a service account may have extremely broad permissions, OAuth 2.0 is recommended for authorizing server-to-server calls between a developer's trusted server-side applications and Google's Maps Platform servers.

For client-side applications running on end user devices, other authentication methods, such as API keys, are recommended.

If you want to use OAuth 2.0 to authorize server-to-server traffic, look for the OAuth topic in your API documentation.

For example, here is the OAuth topic for the Address Validation API.

Secure client-side web service calls

If client-side SDKs are not available, see the recommendations below.

Use a proxy server

Using a secure proxy server provides a solid source for interacting with a Google Maps Platform web service endpoint from a client-side application without exposing your API key, signing secret or Google Cloud service account to unauthorized users.

Key points:

*   Construct your Google Maps Platform requests on the proxy server.
    **Don't** allow clients to relay arbitrary API calls using the proxy.

*   Post-process the Google Maps Platform responses on your proxy server.
Filter out data that the client doesn't need.

For more information about using a proxy server, see Living Vicariously: Using Proxy Servers with the Google Data API Client Libraries.

Secure direct mobile web service calls

If you are unable to set up a secure proxy server for your client-side app, secure your application using the following steps:

  1. Use HTTP headers:

    • Android: Use the X-Android-Package and X-Android-Cert HTTP headers.

    • iOS: Use the X-Ios-Bundle-Identifier HTTP header.

  2. Add the corresponding application restrictions to your Android or iOS key.

  3. Before you consider issuing calls directly from your mobile application to a Google Maps Platform REST API web service, verify that requests with incorrect Android or iOS application identifiers are rejected.

    If Android and iOS application restrictions are not supported on the tested endpoint, Google strongly recommends that you use a secure proxy server between your mobile clients and the Google Maps Platform web service endpoint.

Tips for Android applications:

  • Before you integrate your Android application with Google Maps Platform services, verify that your application ID (also called package name) is formatted correctly. For details, see Configure app module. in the Android documentation.

  • To pass X-Android-Package directly from your application, look it up programmatically using Context.getPackageName().

  • To pass X-Android-Cert directly from your applications, calculate the required SHA-1 fingerprint of your application signing certificates, accessible through PackageInfo.signingInfo.

  • If you authorize your Android application using the Google Cloud console, note that the UI expects the SHA-1 fingerprint to be a colon-delimited string, e.g., 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF:00:11:22:33. However, the gcloud tool and the API keys API expect the hexadecimal string without delimiters.

Tips for iOS applications:

  • Before you integrate your iOS application with Google Maps Platform services, verify that your Bundle ID is formatted correctly.

  • You should typically always pass the Bundle ID of your main bundle in the X-Ios-Bundle-Identifier header, when authorizing your iOS application.

For further information, refer to articles Manage API keys and Use API keys to access APIs.

Host your browser based apps on a server

Frameworks, such as Apache Cordova, allow you to conveniently create multi-platform hybrid apps running inside a webview. However, API key website restrictions are not guaranteed to work correctly, unless your web app is loaded using HTTP or HTTPS from a website that you control and have authorized.

Bundled resources, loaded locally from within a hybrid application, or accessed using a local file URL will in many cases prevent referrer based authorization from working as the browser engine powering your webview will omit sending the Referer header. To avoid this, host your web applications server-side, not client-side.

Alternatively, for mobile applications, consider using available native Google Maps Platform Android and iOS SDKs, instead of using a web based SDK.

Use App Check to secure your API key

Certain Maps SDKs and APIs allow you to integrate with Firebase App Check. App Check provides protection for calls from your app to Google Maps Platform by blocking traffic that comes from sources other than legitimate apps. It does this by checking for a token from an attestation provider. Integrating your apps with App Check helps to protect against malicious requests, so you're not charged for unauthorized API calls.

App Check integration instructions:

Handle unauthorized use of an API key

If you detect use of your API key that is unauthorized, do the following to address the problem:

  1. Restrict your keys: If you've used the same key in multiple apps, migrate to multiple API keys, and use separate API keys for each app. For more details, see:

  2. If you use the Places SDK or the Maps Javascript API, you can also use App Check to secure your API Key.

  3. Only replace or rotate keys if the following is true:

    • You detect unauthorized usage on keys that either cannot be restricted or are already restricted, and App Check is not applicable.

    • You want to move more quickly to secure your API key and stop the abuse, even if it might impact legitimate traffic from your application.

    Before proceeding, read through Be careful when rotating API keys.

  4. If you are still having issues or need help, contact support.

Recommended application and API restrictions

The following sections suggest appropriate application and API restrictions for each Google Maps Platform API, SDK or service.

Recommended API Restrictions

The following guidelines for API restrictions apply to all Google Maps Platform services:

  • Restrict your API key to only the APIs you are using it for, with the following exceptions:

    • If your app uses the Places SDK for Android or Places SDK for iOS, authorize Places API (New) or Places API, depending on the SDK versions you use. 1

    • If your app uses Maps JavaScript API, always authorize it on your key.

    • If you also use any of the following Maps JavaScript API services, you should also authorize these corresponding APIs:

      Service API restriction
      Directions Service (Legacy) Directions API (Legacy)
      Distance Matrix Service (Legacy) Distance Matrix API (Legacy)
      Elevation Service Elevation API
      Geocoding Service Geocoding API
      Place class, Place Autocomplete Widget (New) & Place Autocomplete Data API Places API (New)2
      Places Library, Places Service & Place Autocomplete Widget Places API2

1 For more details, see the Places SDK for Android and Places SDK for iOS documentation.

2 If you are unsure if you need to authorize Places API (New) or Places API, see the Maps JavaScript API documentation.

Some examples:

  • You are using the Maps SDK for Android and Places SDK for Android, so you include the Maps SDK for Android and Places API (New) as API restrictions.

  • Your website uses the Maps JavaScript API Elevation Service and the Maps Static API, so you add API restrictions for all of the following APIs:

    • Maps JavaScript API
    • Elevation API
    • Maps Static API

Recommended application Restriction

Websites

For websites using Maps JavaScript API services, Maps Static API or Street View Static API or calling recent Google Maps Platform services directly over the HTTPS REST API or gRPC, use the Websites application restriction:

1 For mobile applications, consider using the native Maps SDK for Android and Maps SDK for iOS.

2 For mobile applications, consider using the native Places SDK for Android and Places SDK for iOS.

3 See also Protect Static Web API usage.

Websites with the Maps Embed API

While using the Maps Embed API is no charge, you should still restrict any used API key to prevent abuse on other services.

Best practice: Create a separate API key for Maps Embed API use, and restrict this key to only the Maps Embed API. This restriction sufficiently secures the key, preventing its unauthorized use on any other Google service. For full control over where your Maps Embed API key can be used from, Google recommends also applying Websites application restrictions.

If you are unable to separate your Maps Embed API usage to a separate API key, secure your existing key using the Websites application restriction.

Apps and servers using web services

For servers and client-side apps from trusted corporate internal networks using web services together with API keys, use the IP addresses application restriction.

Use for apps and servers using these APIs:

4 For mobile applications, consider using the Navigation SDK.

5 For safe mobile usage, use a secure proxy server.

6 For client-side applications, consider using the native geolocation service offered by the platform; for example, W3C Geolocation for web browsers, LocationManager or the Fused Location Provider API for Android, or the Apple Core Location framework for iOS.

7 For mobile applications, consider using the native Places SDK for Android and Places SDK for iOS.

8 For safe client-side usage, use a secure proxy server.

Android apps

For apps on Android, use the Android apps application restriction. Use for apps using these SDKs:

In addition, prevent accidentally checking API keys into version control by using the Secrets Gradle Plugin to inject secrets from a local file rather than storing them in the Android Manifest.

iOS apps

For apps on iOS, use the iOS apps application restriction. Use for apps and servers using these SDKs:

Further reading