Are Google Play Store ads really this limited compared to Apple Search Ads?

Hey everyone,

I just tried running Google Play Store ads for the first time and ran into something that feels very odd.

I wanted to promote my app Tokidoki Home and expected a setup similar to what I’m used to from Apple Search Ads Advanced, where I have proper control. I'am able to freely choose keywords, add negative keywords, and structure and optimize my campaigns in a fairly granular way.

With Google Play Store ads via Google Ads, I couldn’t find any option to add keywords at all, and overall it felt extremely restrictive with very little to optimize. I did some research but didn’t really find a clear answer on this. Is it really the case that for Google Plays app campaign ads you can’t define your own keywords and if so, how are you approaching optimization there in a meaningful way?

Would be very interested in how others are dealing with this and whether I’m missing something obvious in the setup.

Thanks in advance for any insights!