Required Questions in Google Forms on iPhone (2026)
The Toggle, and the Default Behind It
Two controls cover everything:
- Per question: select the card, flip Required (bottom-right, next to the ⋮ menu). Works for every question type, in mobile Safari, no desktop needed.
- For all future questions: Settings → Defaults → Make questions required by default. Every question added afterwards starts required — the right setting to flip first when building a form where most fields are essential, so you unflag the exceptions instead of flagging the majority.
The default is not retroactive; questions that already exist keep their current state.
What Respondents Experience
A required question shows a red asterisk; skipping it blocks submission with “This is a required question” under the empty field. Enforcement happens per section — respondents cannot advance past a section with unanswered required fields, which also means branching logic that routes someone around a section skips its required questions entirely. If a required answer keeps arriving empty, the branching map is the first place to look.
Required checks that an answer is supplied on the respondent’s active path; it does not establish accuracy. asdf can satisfy a required short-answer field. Response validation checks configured format or value rules. Review the collected data too: neither setting proves that an answer is true.
Designing Required Well
- Require essentials only. Every unnecessary required field raises abandonment; people who stall on one question tend to abandon the whole form.
- Give sensitive questions an out. A required question with a Prefer not to say option keeps completeness without forcing false answers — particularly on anonymous surveys.
- Mark the optional ones. When most fields are required, a “(optional)” note on the rest reads clearer than asterisks everywhere.
- Checkbox nuance: required means at least one ticked; use validation for “exactly two” style rules.
One honest mobile note: flipping twenty Required toggles in Safari means twenty rounds of tap-the-card, find-the-toggle. It works — but bulk question editing is exactly where a native editor pays off. Our Forms for Google Drive iOS app edits the same Google Forms with per-question settings laid out in a proper iOS interface, no hunting.
Check required answers before adding a timer
On iPhone and iPad. Forms for Google Drive offers a mobile form-editing workflow. Review which questions really need to be required, then test a respondent path that leaves each of those questions empty.
With the Workspace add-on. If you also use Form Timer by pipiform, test what happens at expiry with both complete and incomplete answers. Its auto-submit option is not a reason to skip required-field testing. Record whether the response actually appears in Google Forms.
View Form Timer and its features · Install the add-on · Get Forms for Google Drive on the App Store
The app and Workspace add-ons are separate pipiform products. Forms for Google Drive is US$59.99/year with a 3-day trial; check the App Store offer for your region. Form Timer is free on one form; its Pro plan is US$80/year or US$10/month. See current product pricing before subscribing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do respondents know a question is required?
A red asterisk appears next to the question title, and the form shows a 'This is a required question' error under any required field left empty when they try to submit or move to the next section. They cannot submit until every required question in the current section has an answer.
Can I make all questions required at once?
For future questions, yes: Settings → Defaults → 'Make questions required by default' applies the toggle automatically to every question you add afterwards. It does not retroactively change existing questions — those you still flip one by one, which takes a few seconds per question from the card's Required toggle.
Should every question be required?
Usually not. Required works for fields the response is useless without — an ID on a sign-up, the rating on a feedback form. Making everything required inflates abandonment: respondents who cannot or will not answer one question discard the whole submission. A good default is required for essentials, optional for nice-to-haves, with an explicit 'optional' note in the question description.
Does required work with every question type?
Yes — every type from short answer to file upload has the Required toggle, including grids, where an additional 'Require a response in each row' setting exists separately. For checkboxes, required means at least one box ticked; combine it with response validation if you need an exact count.
Can a required question still collect 'prefer not to say'?
Yes, and it is good survey design: add 'Prefer not to say' as an explicit option. The question stays required — so nobody skips it accidentally — but respondents keep a genuine out, which protects both data completeness and honesty. This matters especially on anonymous surveys asking sensitive questions.
Why can respondents still skip my required question?
Almost always branching: required is enforced per section, so a respondent routed around a section by branching logic never sees its questions at all — required or not. Check your section navigation if a required field is coming back empty; the question likely lives in a section some paths bypass.