Getting internal error (code = 0)

[ca...@degoo.com]

Our app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instabridge.android) 

Is getting "Internal Error" (errorCode = 0) for about 25% of our native ad requests.

It happens in production and we recently managed to reproduce it while debugging. Then the following is written to logcat:

W/Ads: Not retrying to fetch app settings

E/chromium: [ERROR:cookie_manager.cc(137)] Strict Secure Cookie policy does not allow setting a secure cookie for http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/ for apps targeting >= R. Please either use the 'https:' scheme for this URL or omit the 'Secure' directive in the cookie value.
I/Ads: Received log message: Incorrect native ad response. Click actions were not properly specified
I/Ads: Ad failed to load : 0

We use SDK version 20.2.0 (Android). We have analyzed the error by exporting the error from Firebase to BigQuery and there's no specific Android version, OS language or device brand that stands out. It seems to be evenly spread across all our users.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated since we're leaving a lot of money on the table due to this. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need additional information or if we can assist in the debugging in any way. 

Best,

Carl Hasselskog

CEO, Instabridge

[ca...@degoo.com]

I should also add that I have verified that the ad unit is working (we've been using it for a long time) and that we have no policy issues. 

[ca...@degoo.com]

I tried updating the SDK to 20.3.0 but unfortunately, that didn't help. Not sure if this helps but this is the precise error we get:

{

  "Adapter": "com.google.ads.mediation.admob.AdMobAdapter",

  "Latency": 3522,

  "Credentials": {},

  "Ad Error": {

    "Code": 0,

    "Message": "Internal error.",

    "Domain": "com.google.android.gms.ads",

    "Cause": "null"

  }

}

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. First I would start by suggesting to try one of our sample apps here . As the fact that you are getting an error code 0 indicates to us that you have the SDK not implemented correctly, as shown here. At the same time can you share with us via the "Reply to author" button. With a sample of your app with the implementation. as well as any steps that you have seen that replicate the issue.

Regards,

William Pescherine Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[ca...@degoo.com]

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to me. I sent the APK and further details via "Reply to author" yesterday. Just checking to make sure you received it.

Thank you

Carl

[ca...@degoo.com]

Hi,

Any updates on this? Anything I can assist with?

Thank you

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

It looks like one of my colleague's messages doesn't come through your inbox. We downloaded your APK, and we're getting a INSTALL_FAILED_NO_MATCHING_ABIS upon installing it into the emulator through ADB command. With this, would it be possible for you to provide a project (or at least a test project) instead? Rest assured that this will not be shared externally and will be used for investigation purposes only. You may send it via Reply to author option. If the option does not work, kindly reply to mobileads...@gmail.com, then let us know here once sent.

As a side note, if you're having trouble receiving private replies from us, please check your Spam folder. Additionally, please add the 'From address' on that email to your contact list to ensure we aren't flagged as Spam in future messages. If you don't see a message from us in your Spam folder, please email us directly at mobileads-...@google.com referring to this forum thread.

Regards,

Princess Pamela Pineda Mobile Ads SDK Team

 

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[ca...@degoo.com]

You're perfectly correct, Google Workspace classified your emails as spam and placed them in my Spam folder. I'll go through them now and make sure to get back to you. Thanks!

Best,

Carl

[ca...@degoo.com]

Hi, 

I sent you a follow-up last week with the APK you requested. Did you get a chance to look at it? Thanks!

Best,
Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

Thank you for your response.

We've seen your file provided, but we're unable to download it as it is blocked on our end. Can you please provide us again a copy of it (not in rar file), just upload it in your google drive and share it to mobileads...@gmail.com or via Reply privately to author option or send it directly to mobileads...@gmail.com. Kindly inform us on this thread if you sent it directly to the email provided.

[ca...@degoo.com]

Thank you for the follow-up. I've now sent a Google Drive link of the app bundle to mobileads...@gmail.com. Before you received the RAR file you also received four APKs, one for each CPU architecture. Did it work once you tried installing the APK with the correct CPU archictecture?

Looking forward to hearing how it goes!

Best,

Carl

On Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 9:02:15 AM UTC+2 mobileadssdk wrote:

Hello Carl,

Thank you for your response.

We've seen your file provided, but we're unable to download it as it is blocked on our end. Can you please provide us again a copy of it (not in rar file), just upload it in your google drive and share it to mobileadstesting99@gmail.com or via Reply privately to author option or send it directly to mobileadstesting99@gmail.com. Kindly inform us on this thread if you sent it directly to the email provided.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for the response. We were able to get your file and really would ask if we can just get a simple app with your implementation that is able to replicate this issue. We will want to look at the way you are implementing the SDK and not just how it is running. You can even take from one of our samples here , and make whatever changes are needed to match yours. You can just zip it, and send it to the same email. As for the previous 4 apk? I did not see them, if we are able to find them we will try to test against those again. At the same time just to let you know, we do not test against CPU architecture, we test based on device and OS, which I will assume you have standard settings on as there are no reasons I would imagine to make them unusual. If you see it happening on specific devices please let us know.

At the same time, we have seen this in the past and this is why we are asking for just a very simple app that shows this. Once we get this we can bring it to our team to look more into. Also was this developed in Flutter?

Regards,

William Pescherine Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[ca...@degoo.com]

Thank you for your response. Sorry, but we've not been able to reproduce the issue with a sample project. To best honest, requiring a sample project with the issue being reproducible is analogous to Boeing requiring passengers to reproduce the plane crash in a simulator. There are issues (e.g. race conditions, Proguard issues, conflicting dependencies etc) that simply won't show up in a sample project, and if you set that as the bar for investigating an issue you and us publishers will miss out on a lot of revenue.

I suggest we instead look into the issue by investigating the logs I'm assuming there are more details available than errorCode = 0. What do your logs say about this? Is there anything we can change on our end to enable more detailed logging that will help us pinpoint this issue?

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for the response. The reason that we ask for the sample is for the very reasons you said that the reason is not worth it. Our samples are made without a large amount of the things that a developer adds on and thus are working as expected. But as you have stated, maybe you have added Proguard or other dependencies that may be conflicting with our SDK. That is what we are looking for and testing against. Also we look at how you actually implement our SDK. Developers do not always do exactly the same as we have done, which is ok, so we need to look at that. To see if maybe they are doing something we did not think of or conflicts also with what we do. Again this is also why we suggest our sample and then add on whatever else you use.

[ca...@degoo.com]

I apologize if I gave the impression that creating a reproducible sample is something we're not attempting to achieve. We are attempting to achieve it. I was simply saying that since we already have a reproducible sample in the form of our own app I think it's worth the time to at least enable more detailed logging and look for clues in the logs. Given that it might not be possible to recreate the exact conditions where this is happening without recreating the entire app, this might be our only way to get to the bottom of this. 

Don't you agree that at least looking in the logs is worth the effort, given the huge number of impressions that are going missing here? We'd happily pay you for the engineering hours you spend investigating this or do the work ourselves if you just give us the required credentials to access more detailed logs if you don't think it's worth your time to look in the logs.

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for the response. We are absolutely more than happy to take a look over Charles logs and any stacktraces that you are able to get back. Also if you should have any Crashalytics that show this we are more than willing to look over that. Generally when we see the error code 0, we do look for something in the code that might be conflicting with the SDK, such as a library or dependancy. Or maybe you just are doing something again that is different then what we do and it might be conflicting with something. So if you have or can gain something that might show that? Yes we will definitely look more into that for you, without the app.

[ca...@degoo.com]

Yes, no problem, we will make sure to get you that. Meanwhile, what have you found while checking in your server-side logs for our account?

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

I've checked the list of crashes reported by other publishers which are currently under investigation, and I didn't see a same crash that you reported. I'm afraid that we'll need a detailed debug information in order to actually make any progress in diagnosing this. The only way for us to investigate further is by creating a simple app reproducing the issue. That said, please provide us a sample app and its steps to trigger the crash for us to investigate this further.

Regards,

Teejay Wennie Pimentel Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[Carl Hasselskog]

Hi,

We've now managed to acquire more log data that should help diagnose the problem. I've attached the log files from a session when "Internal error" was generated. I see couple of 403 errors which hopefully can give you a few hints on what's going on. Does that tell you anything?

Best,

Carl

On Tue, Sep 21, 2021 at 3:02 PM 'ca...@degoo.com' via Google Mobile Ads SDK Developers <google-adm...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Thank you for the follow-up. I've now sent a Google Drive link of the app bundle to mobileads...@gmail.com. Before you received the RAR file you also received four APKs, one for each CPU architecture. Did it work once you tried installing the APK with the correct CPU archictecture?

Looking forward to hearing how it goes!

Best,

Carl

On Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 9:02:15 AM UTC+2 mobileadssdk wrote:

Hello Carl,

Thank you for your response.

We've seen your file provided, but we're unable to download it as it is blocked on our end. Can you please provide us again a copy of it (not in rar file), just upload it in your google drive and share it to mobileads...@gmail.com or via Reply privately to author option or send it directly to mobileads...@gmail.com. Kindly inform us on this thread if you sent it directly to the email provided.

Regards,

Princess Pamela Pineda Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[ca...@degoo.com]

Hi,

I've some good news. We've now managed to acquire more log data that should help diagnose the problem. I sent you the log file privately. I see a couple of 403 errors which hopefully can give you a few hints on what's going on. Does that tell you anything?

Best,

Carl

[Carl Hasselskog]

To make things a bit easier for you I ran another session where we only tried to load native ads (the previous session also loaded interstitials, rewarded video and rewarded interstitials). Now it shows no 403 error so I guess that was a separate issue. However, this time another error caught my attention:

 

“Received log message: <Google:HTML> Incorrect native ad response. Click actions were not properly specified”.

Any idea what could cause this?

 

Anything we can change to solve it or is an SDK update required?

 

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for bringing these logs to our attention. I was able to look at them as well as the error that you are showing. First it would look like you are using Flutter to build your app, if this is correct. Can you also look at this section that talks about getting the error message from the SDK. Once you get that, you should then also be able to compare it in this article that talks about what the messages mean. If you can pass along what responses you get back this should also help us. At the same time, I have looked at the HTML error that you also mentioned, from what I can tell this could be an issue with the test ad id, you can try to run 1 test with a live id to see if this keeps happening. But from what I have been able to tell, there should not be anything wrong with your code.

Regards,

William Pescherine Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[ca...@degoo.com]

Thank you for the quick response. 

• We're not using Flutter. It's a standard Android app built using Kotlin/Java. 
• Our error message and error code as I wrote in when creating this thread:  message: "Internal Error" errorCode = 0
• We tested using a live ad unit, not a test one.

I hope that helps clarify the issue. What do you think could explain it?

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

Thank you for your response.

Since the logs mentioned that the error is " Incorrect native ad response. Click actions were not properly specified”." For us to check this error, can we request your sample app implementation where this is happening, as we can't replicate this in our end? It will be a big help to us to further check this. Also, can you confirm if you are testing this in your test device, is your network have some blockers? You can send the requested sample app via Reply privately to author option or send it directly to mobileads...@gmail.com. Kindly inform us on this thread if you sent it directly to the email provided.

Regards,

Princess Pamela Pineda Mobile Ads SDK Team

 

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[ca...@degoo.com]

I think I've identified the issue. The issue occurs on an emulator without Google Play and it only happens for native ads (e.g. banners work fine). So my conclusion is that it's the issue with install ads that you mention here: https://groups.google.com/g/google-admob-ads-sdk/c/kB4itOh71Zk/m/LGJXZLdaAwAJ . Since nowadays there are hundreds of millions of devices without Google Play (e.g. Huawei devices) a lot of revenue is left on the table due to this error. The solution would be if your servers only return native ads that are not app install ads for those users. That would yield a huge revenue boost for Google and all AdMob publishers. Is there anything we can do to assist in accomplishing this?

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

Thank you for sharing your observation to us.

I can bring this to the rest of the team, but before that, can you please provide us the sample app on where this is happening and device you encountered this? It will be a big help to us to address this in our end. You can send the requested sample app via Reply privately to author option or send it directly to mobileads...@gmail.com. Kindly inform us on this thread if you sent it directly to the email provided.

[ca...@degoo.com]

Sure, I'll try to reproduce it using a custom sample app. In the meantime could you try it using the following emulator? That's where I'm able to reproduce it with our app. 

[ca...@degoo.com]

I’ve now managed to reproduce the error using your sample app called Java_NativeAdvancedExample_AdMob. It’s reproducible without any modifications to the app using the emulator I previously mentioned. This confirms what I've been saying: the bug is in the SDK, not in our code. 

 I’ve attached the log file from the sample app with detailed ad debug logging enabled in the system settings. You can also confirm from the screenshot below that no ad is showing. I've sent the same details to the email address you requested me to send it to. 

Just let me know if there's anything we can do to assist in solving this. There's a ton of revenue left on the table so we'd be more than happy to provide any resources you need to help you fix this bug.

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for the sample and was able to test it on our end also. I was able to see the error and will be bringing this to my teams attention to look into more. While we are doing this, we suggest to keep an eye on our release notes if they have any updates about this. 

Regards,

William Pescherine Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[ca...@degoo.com]

Thank you, I appreciate it. Just, let me know if we can assist in any way. 

Best,

Carl

[ca...@degoo.com]

Hi,

Any updates from the team? What's the expected ETA?

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

As per checking, this is still under investigation. I'm afraid that I cannot provide a definite timeline on when they will provide their feedback. I'll let you know the soonest I hear back from the team.

Regards,

Teejay Wennie Pimentel Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[ca...@degoo.com]

Understood, thank you for keeping me posted.

[ca...@degoo.com]

Hi, 

Any updates on this? Has the team made any progress? Anything we can assist with?

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for reaching out to us again. I do not at the moment have any information to pass along. Once we hear something back, we will be certain to pass it along to you.

Regards,

William Pescherine Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[ca...@degoo.com]

This case has been open for almost two months now and it has huge negative effect on Google's and publishers' revenue. What's the ETA for solving it?

Best,

Carl

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Carl,

Thank you for reaching otu to us again. Let me bring this to my team's attention and see what I can get back from them. Once we do this we will be certain to pass it along to you.

[ca...@degoo.com]

What's the status now? 

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

Thank you for reaching out.

We are currently reviewing the issue.

In the meantime, would you please provide the below information?

• Publisher ID
• App ID
• Ad unit ID used
• Charles proxy log that captures all the ad requests and responses (including the one getting internal error)
• Most recent stack trace (if there is any)

Regards,
Joshua

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[ca...@degoo.com]

Any updates?

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

Sorry for the late response.

As the fix/ code change also involves legal consideration, we would expect the test or experimentation of the change to continue until Jan 2022.

I would let you know as soon as there is another update.

[ca...@degoo.com]

What legal considerations would it entail? You already support this for other ad formats.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

I hope all is well.

There is more to consider for the fix/ code change as it might impact a huge number of publishers. We would also like to ensure it won't break any of the existing implementations.

Once again I appreciate your patience while we are trying to get this fix out as soon as possible.

Thanks!

[ca...@degoo.com]

First you said it involved legal considerations and now it's technical considerations. Tip: if you wish to gain trust it's better to stay truthful. The fact that it's affecting a lot of publishers is an argument for a faster release, not a slower release. 

[ca...@degoo.com]

January has now passed. When can we expect this to be launched?

Best,

Carl

[ca...@degoo.com]

Any updates? 

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

Sorry there isn't any further update.

I have reached out to the engineering team again and will let you know as soon as there is one.

[ca...@degoo.com]

What's the status now? 

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

We apologize for the delay.

Unfortunately, the engineering team is still working toward the solution.

I have again reached out to them to ask for an update.

[ca...@degoo.com]

What's the status now?

[ca...@degoo.com]

Any updates?

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Carl,

There isn't an update as the product and engineering teams are still working on it.

I have again bumped the priority of it and will reply to this thread as soon as there is an update.