Google Play Services preventing ads from displaying on Gingerbread device.

[Michael Stott]

Google Play Services SDK: 9.0.0
Google Play Services apk: Version 9.0.82 (034-121907432)
OS Version: Gingerbread (2.3.6)

I have been having trouble over the past few days getting AdMob ads to display on a Gingerbread device after installing Google Play Services. Logcat would output:

"This app is using a lightweight version of the Google Mobile Ads SDK that requires the latest Google Play services to be installed, but Google Play services is either missing or out of date."

After finally uninstalling Google Play Services, the ads would show without issue. I repeated this several times to confirm that this was the problem.

I should also note Google Play Services would crash about a minute after installation. Even after crashing, ads would still not be displayed.

I was wondering if there was a better way around this issue. I have found this on stackoverflow, but nobody has yet answered it.

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Michael,

This is actually a known bug, for which we have a fix slated for release.  Right now the fix will crash on devices that run on an out-of-date Google Play services version, or those that don't have a Play services APK installed locally.

The fix is a server-side change, so once it has rolled into production, the issue should be gradually alleviated.

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Michael Stott]

Thank you for your reply. I'm glad to hear that there is a fix.

On Monday, May 23, 2016 at 8:17:04 AM UTC-4, Michael Stott wrote:

[Sagar Mahobia]

 Same problem with me. logcat says  "This app is using a lightweight version of the Google Mobile Ads SDK that requires the latest Google Play services to be installed, but Google Play services is either missing or out of date." 

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Sagar,

Does a crash also come with that log entry?  And does the crash happen on Gingerbread devices?  If so, the fix is on its way.

Thanks for letting us know,

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Michael Heuer]

Hello,
I have this same problem too, on my Android 2.3.3 device (Galaxy S2).

When Google Play services is on the device, i have this message :

E/Ads(8802): This app is using a lightweight version of the Google Mobile Ads SDK that requires the latest Google Play services to be installed, but Google Play services is either missing or out of date.

And my game crash with this error :

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.google.android.gms.internal.bh.getAdSize(Unknown Source)
at com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView.getAdSize(Unknown Source)
at com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView.onMeasure(Unknown Source)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8366)

When i remove Google Play Services, the ads works good ( = no crash, and ads are shown)

Thank you for your help
Michael

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Michael,

You should update to the latest version of Google Play services (both on the device and when building the APK).  Meanwhile, once the fix has rolled out, the number of crashes should diminish.

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Kenneth Lee]

Google Play Services updated to 9.2.56 (034-124593566) but not fixed. Admob ads not displayed on GB.

[Michael Heuer]

Thank you for your answer.

I have updated to the lastest verrsion of Google Play services, and there is no more crash now.

But, I have the same problem as Kenneth Lee : the Ads are not shown on Android 2.3 ( test on my Galaxy S2)

Best,
Michael

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Michael,

An issue in a recent release of the Mobile Ads SDK caused ads to stop serving to some devices running older versions of Android.  The engineering team has already created a fix, which should be rolled out with the next version of the SDK.

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Eric Wong]

Hi Vu Chau,

Can you confirm if the fix you mentioned is already deployed or not?

The thing is I am testing my app on Android 2.3 and it seems to have the same problem.

When tested on emulator, ads show up but nothing appears on Android 2.3 phone.

Google services are removed or not present in both scenario.

I tried adding the device ID in code but test ads is not appearing on the Android 2.3 phone.

Thanks

Eric

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Eric,

Could you test again on your 2.3 phone with Google Play services installed? It might be a separate issue, so please get back to me with the result (ad unit ID, Google Play services version, etc.).

Thanks!

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Eric Wong]

Hi Vu Chau,

1) I am using HTC Magic to test this, I cannot install Google Play Services because doing so will cause the device to run out of ROM space. The current Google Play services is simply too large for this device. While testing, I saw the auto update to Google Services which result in the device having only a few MB free space left, making it unusable, so I have to remove Google Play Services altogether.

2) I am using an Android 2.3 custom ROM for HTC Magic because the latest Official ROM is only Android 1.6. I am using Yoshi's ROM. I can provide my app's log if required. Actually, I am a few days away from publishing my updated app.

Actually, Play store currently have an old version of this app and ads is also not showing when I test this app on my Android 2.3, HTC Magic phone too.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.portable.lanmic

3) I just tested this again and both banner and interstitial ads are not showing up. My apk is build using the latest Google Play Services, 9.4.0.

My Ads publisher ID

LANmic banner 

Ad unit ID: ca-app-pub-1906244129197498/2814683276

LANmic Interstital 

Ad unit ID: ca-app-pub-1906244129197498/1109120872

4) I noticed I may not have entered the correct device ID into the testdevice code because DDMS log says to use a different device ID than ADB device shows. I am not too sure which one I should use.

Thanks

Eric

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Eric, thanks for getting back to us with the extra details!

I tested it out on an Android 2.3 emulator with Google Play services, and was able to see my banner.  So I'm thinking the fact you are not getting back an ad is because there is no Play services on the device.  It wouldn't involve the crash specific to Gingerbread originally reported in this thread.  In fact, it might not be specific to the Gingerbread API at all.

What I'd do is to test again on (any, but preferably 2.3+) devices that are not running on a custom ROM.  Since there's no way not to have Play services on those devices (unless they are shipped without GMS), the SDK will make use of whichever Play services frameworks available so it can request and show ads.  If you still see issues in this scenario, definitely let us know.

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Eric Wong]

Hi Vu Chan,

I know the banner ads shows on emulator. I have tested on emulator and it works there too.

The problem is ads do NOT show on actual Android 2.3 devices.

I only have one Android 2.3 here to test but my developer have tested it on another Android 2.3 device and ads is not showing there too. Unfortunately, both devices are running custom ROM and there is nothing we can do about not using custom ROM when official ROM is not available for those devices.

From our device test, there is two scenarios and ads do not show on both scenarios.

1) Android 2.3 without Google Services will show the same Google services missing message in log as emulator.

2) Android 2.3 with old Google Services will show this

"This app is using a lightweight version of the Google Mobile Ads SDK that requires the latest Google Play services to be installed, but Google Play services is either missing or out of date."

If you do have Google Services installed on your device, all you need to do is uninstall it ;)

Can you please try it on an actual Android 2.3 device?

Thanks

Eric

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Eric,

The expectation is that ads should display on an actual device with an up-to-date Play services lib.  If the user is on a custom ROM, the best the SDK can do is to log the messages about the lack of Play services.  

Your app will still use the Play services version that is compiled against when you generate the APK, however.  That was why I asked if you could test it out on non-Gingerbread devices that don't have Play services as well.  This way, we would be able to know if it is a separate issue whereby the SDK doesn't show ads without Google Play services (the expectation is that it should, irrespective of which Android version it is).

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Eric Wong]

Hi Vu Chau,

I have asked someone to help me try my latest apk on Android 4.3 device that does not have Google Services. Ads show up fine on this device.

However, this does not change my observation that ads do NOT show on Android 2.3 devices without Google Services or running old version of Google Services.

If you can get your hands on some old Android devices running Android 2.3, being able to reproduce on your end is the most important to get this resolved.

Thanks

Eric

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the testing on another Android version.  I'll let the rest of the team know about this instance regarding ad serving on Gingerbread devices without Play services.

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Nafis Abdullah Khan]

So, it's the end of 2017. I don't know if I am being stupid or not having this problem but ads not working on gingerbread emulator. Google APIs Intel x86 Atom Image API level 10 revision 5. In gradle, using compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:10.0.+' as dependency. Any help?

[Deepika Uragayala- MobileAds SDK team]

Hi Nafis,

The SDK only supports API level 14 and above. Gingerbread support has been deprecated. 

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

Mobile Ads SDK Team