Test ads stopped showing

[Bence Menyhárt]

Hi!

I'm using the Unity SDK 8.2.0. Approximately 3 weeks ago my "Test ads" label stopped showing on my ads. I checked the admob console, and my test device's adId was still there. I checked my phone and the adId did not change. There were no release nor any change to admob related codes. The issue persists on both test apk builds and on my release on Play Store. Since I was banned for 30 days 4 months ago for self clicking ("which is btw simply not true but lets jump over this..) I'm really worried about permanent banning because admob is unable to show test ads on my test devices. 

What I tried?

1. Check release build on PlayStore with my original device and adId
2. Check test build from Unity Editor with my original device and adId
3. Check test build from Unity Editor with my original device and a new adId (2 days ago)
4. Check test build from Unity Editor with my original device and programatically adding my adId from my code

None of the above helped me to get back my test ads.

Please help me investigate the issue and do note that ad serving worked for months before my 30 days suspension and after it too.

Thanks for your reply in advance!

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi there,

Thank you for contacting the Mobile Ads SDK Support team.

Please note that released or production app ads don't show the test mode label. You have to make sure to remove the test mode code to be removed before the app is published. Make sure you replace the test IDs with your own ad unit ID before publishing your app.

If you want to do more rigorous testing with production-looking ads, you can now configure your device as a test device by enabling test ads and use your ad unit IDs that you've created in the AdMob UI. Test devices can either be added in the AdMob UI or programmatically using the Google Mobile Ads SDK. 

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02tPKrX:ref" (ADR-00232939)

Thanks,
 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Bence Menyhárt]

Hi!

I really don't know how this forum works and when my message appears here but I actually answered here like 8 hours ago so re-sending my message.

Back to the topic. All things that you suggested are actually done by me and some of it is part of my original message.

Please note that released or production app ads don't show the test mode label. You have to make sure to remove the test mode code to be removed before the app is published. Make sure you replace the test IDs with your own ad unit ID before publishing your app.

> My app displayed test ads for my test phone for months even though it was in production. First prod release was on January 7th.  I did not have any test device setup from code or usage of test ids provided by Google. All of my test devices were configured via the AdMob console till to this day.

If you want to do more rigorous testing with production-looking ads, you can now configure your device as a test device by enabling test ads and use your ad unit IDs that you've created in the AdMob UI. Test devices can either be added in the AdMob UI or programmatically using the Google Mobile Ads SDK. 

> I'm sorry but I already did this I also did retesting which I sent you above.. Is this an AI generated response? If yes please escalate this to an actual support engineer..

I'm more than happy to provide details, diag data. In the meantime I checked the test ad label on my other test device. While first it displayed the test ad label after one ad displayed to me the label is gone and I see production ads only. Please note that I try to be as compliant as I can be but somehow I need to test ads in my game even in production and I would really like to avoid getting banned again because the scam detection system triggers on a full genuine hicup from 10-15 cent to 40cent.....

~Menyus

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thanks for confirming that you have followed the steps mentioned.

It is always recommended to keep the SDKs up to date to avoid such issues. You have stated that you are making use of Unity SDK 8.2.0 which is an older version. As of today, the latest version is 9.1.0. Kindly update to the latest version and confirm whether the same issue is reproducible or not.

[عثمان عصومي‎]

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[Bence Menyhárt]

Hi!

The SDK 8.2.0. is supported which means according to your page that you support it. Currently I don't have the resources and time to update the SDK as we have a quite complicated dependency tree between gradles. What else can you recommend me? What diag data you need for investigation? Also this 100% has to be some kind of admob console issue as for test ads the actual SDK should have no influence as your backends send the test ads afaik. Please lets move this issue towards.

~Menyus

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Menyus,

Yes, the SDK 8.2.0. is supported and that is the reason you can see ads. The issue is related to the “Test Ad label” So I would recommend checking this issue in version 5.4.0, you can test your ads directly in the Unity editor. The editor will add a Prefab image giving a similar experience to how actual ads will behave on a mobile platform.

Note: Because the mock ads are prefab objects, they will appear "under" your GUI in the Unity Editor. When you export to a mobile platform, however, ads render on top of any game views.
Note: To see the Test Ad label, you need to be using an SDK version of 11.6.0 or higher for the Android platform.

Also, Mediated ads do NOT render a Test Ad label. You are responsible for ensuring that test ads are enabled for each of your mediation networks so these networks don't flag your account for invalid activity. See each network's respective mediation guide for more information.

If the above didn’t work send us the below information for further investigation privately to make progress on this issue:

• app ID
• ad unit ID
• SDK version being used
• Device you are testing on along with versions
• Mediation Adapter used (If any)

You can provide the following details via reply privately to the author option.

[Bence Menyhárt]

Hi!

I sent the requested details to you in a private message!

~Menyus

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Menyus,

Thank you for providing the requested information.

I will check on this issue with the information provided and let you know. 

[Bence Menyhárt]

Hi!

It looks like that now I'm getting test ads sometimes. All I did was that I added my test device as a duplicate like this
Original:  d8d775bf-a12b-312a-a915-020f3d6712d9
Duplicate: D8D775BF-A12B-312A-A915-020F3D6712D9

In the background I'm also adding the UMP support for consent screens.

So my three tips

- You did something in the background.

- My duplicate entry with upper case solved it.
- My UMP package support solves it and in case an EMEA user do not have consent you can not display the test ad label.

I'm eager to hear from you

~Menyus

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Menyus,

Thanks for the confirmation.
There are 3 values. 

  UMPDebugGeographyDisabled = 0
  UMPDebugGeographyEEA = 1
  UMPDebugGeographyNotEEA = 2

EEA- Consent will come and test ads will show.
NotEEA- Consent will not come and test ads will show.
Disabled- Consent will not be disabled and test ads will show.
In your case for EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) does not have consent, you shouldn't display the test ad label. This adheres to privacy regulations in that region, which prioritize user control over their data.

Kindly get back to us if you need any further assistance related to Mobile Ads SDK.

[Bence Menyhárt]

> EEA- Consent will come and test ads will show.

This is not true. Back in December you promised if the implementation does not have an automatic consent form logic on app startup you will display the configured one in an interstitial ad. However, this is not true. The configured consent form will be never displayed and thus caused our confusion.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to us.

I will check with our team regarding your issue and one of my team members will reach out to you once we have an update on this. Meanwhile, your patience is highly appreciated. 

[Szabolcs Négyesi]

I tried duplicate entry (it really accepts the same ID with all capical letters as a separate device, which is quite ridiculous imho), but it did not solve the problem.

And now I'm banned too.

I guess they screwed up something in the background, 'cause my test ads were just fine until the end of April.

Do you have any tips about how could I fix this? (after I finally get my account back...)

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Szaboics,

Thanks for reaching out.

Can you provide more information on the issue you're facing and the steps to reproduce it?

Have you run our example app(s) [Android | iOS] to see if the issue persists?

You can export the ad request from ad inspector and send it to us through the "Reply to Author" option so we can investigate.

 

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02tPKrX:ref" (ADR-00232939)

Thanks,
 

Joshua Hui Mobile Ads SDK Team