For those whose apps have used Google Ads (via FCBH or otherwise), do you know how to fill out the Advertising ID Declaration?
If you click ‘No’, it seems like that is all that needs to be declared, but if you click ‘Yes’, this is what comes up below:
I apologize for my ignorance. I make apps. Some use analytics, some have gone through advertising, but I have no idea what that means for filling out these kinds of forms.
Thanks for any help,
Matt
Hi Matt, exact same question here. Never have done advertising in our apps as that is against practice. I am going to answer “No” and see what happens. Once I do so, then go back to Open Testing, Edit Release, then Review Release, the warning has gone away. So that’s good.
I’ll try to update further when I find out more.
For benefit of those searching, Google warns about the app. In addition to the standard (for me, anyway) warning about native code and no debug symbols included, I get this warning now:
Warning
You must complete the advertising ID declaration before you can release an app that targets Android 13 (API 33). We’ll use this declaration to provide safeguards in Play Console to accommodate changes to advertising ID in Android 13.
Apps targeting Android 13 or above and use advertising ID must include the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission in the manifest.
Matt, this has nothing to do with the Google Ads since you haven’t added anything related to Google Ads in the app. I am assuming you have enabled Google Firebase or Advertising ID SDK is included in SAB’s codebase. Read more information here.
Thanks for the helpful reply, @jkurian. I really appreciated that example of the filled-out form – super helpful for those of us who don’t understand what’s happening in the underlying code.
I apologize, as I did not understand your second sentence above, but if we have only used FCBH Analytics (not Firebase or any others), are we free to select ‘No’ on the Advertising ID form?
FCBH Analytics never collects Android Advertising ID. Wheras Google Firebase collects identifiers for mobile devices (for example, Android Advertising ID and Advertising Identifier for iOS) and utilizes technologies similar to cookies.
Let us wait to hear from SAB developers whether any SDK code in SAB uses Advertising ID, before selecting ‘No’.
I believe that SAB never use Android Advertising ID.
Thanks, @ChrisHubbard
Is there enough confidence there that we should be able to select ‘No’? I don’t know what the ramifications are if it turns out we’ve filled out this form inaccurately, so maybe I’m overthinking it; but if it’s possible to get a sure answer on this, I’d feel better about moving forward with it.
@ChrisHubbard what about Branch Deep Linking? In the Release notes for SAB 10.1.1 it says:
“When using Branch deep linking, updated Android Advertising ID library to 17.1.0, which sets the required app permission.”
What does this mean?
@Friedo, It looks like I was incorrect. I guess SAB used Android Advertising ID when you have Branch Deep Linking enabled.
@ChrisHubbard does that mean that SAB does not use Android Advertising ID if we have not enabled Branch Deep Linking?
I see, thanks. It would be good to make sure if it is still used and then add some information to the SAB documentation under Deferred Deep Linking.
Yes, this is correct. We do not use the Advertising ID at all in any of the internal SAB code. It is only used by the Branch Deep Linking library - which we make use of if you enable deferred deep linking.
Looks like they Google won’t take no for an answer
It won’t allow me to choose yes and leave them unticked.
And no, I don’t have anything ticked in the SAB Deep Linking tab.
I think the important part is:
Your manifest file includes the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission. This means that your app declares the use of advertising ID. Answer ‘yes’ or remove this permission from your manifest.
Please update SAB to remove this permission if not used by deep linking.
I am also running into this issue in SAB 11.0.1 but I did not run into it before. I also don’t have deep linking selected.
I have been able to reproduce this issue with an app that is not using deep linking. I will start working on finding a solution today.
I did some research and Firebase is using Advertising ID.
So, for the meantime, you will have to answer ‘yes’ if you are using Firebase Analytics.
We can look into trying to disabling Advertising ID for Firebase, but it might be tricky the way we build apps.
Chris
Thanks for this help. It’s a moving target.
@ChrisHubbard I noticed that the data safety CSV from SAB does not trigger the Data Type “Device or other IDs” in Google Play. This is for an app that has Firebase but no Deep Linking. Yes, there is a separate item “Advertising ID” in the App content section of the developer account but I believe it needs to also be included as as Data Type as part of the data safety statements. At least it seems to do that if an SAB app has Deep Linking. Can you check this? Thanks.
I’m also a bit unsure how to fill in the data types for an iOS app in App Store Connect. I have an iOS app with Firebase Analytics, Crashlytics and Push-Notifications (Cloud messaging). I selected Location > Coarse Location Used for Analytics, Identifiers > Device ID Used for Analytics, Usage Data > Product Interaction > Used for Analytics and Diagnostics > Crash Data > Used for Analytics
Does this sound alright?
