Live ads with Test Flight (even with Test Device ID registered)? Plus a bonus Q about Smart Banner.

[Paul Grochowski]

I'm a little confused by what I'm seeing. I'm testing a game I built in Unity and am using the official Admob Unity plugin. If I just run and build in XCode using the play button, I will get the  proper "Test Banners" displaying on my iPad. Same with the interstitial ads.

Verifying (in XCode) that same build and uploading it onto the App store and redownloading it with Testflight, I'm no longer getting those clearly marked test ads. Seems the Test Device ID is being ignored. I think.

Instead of the default test Smart Banner, it was serving an ad talking about the new Google App and a link to download in from the iOS App Store. It clearly didn't describe itself as a test ad, but it was for a Google product.

I thought maybe that was just the default banner (for Test Flight mode) since it was a google ad and not a third-party ad. That and the fact it wasn't refreshing like it should have been. This morning, however, I logged into my account and see that I have three impressions listed.

These are smart banners BTW. So are these live ads (and not just dummy google ads for Test Flight)? If they are live, why wasn't it being refreshed (like it was programmed to do) at the end of each level? And why is the Test ID being ignored when it's clearly correct based on working in non-Test Flight mode. It's the same code being used.

Completely off-topic, but do smart banners have less variety in the ads that are served? I notice they're not very popular with any of the app/websites I use. And I'm a little baffled why, if they actually were live ads, it never changed.

[Vu Chau (MobileAds SDK Team)]

Hi Paul,

Receiving live ads with TestFlight is expected.  To get test ads, you should be able to accomplish this by registering the device IDs in the ad requests.  This should be done when you have testers who will be fuzz testing the UI and clicking the ad, thereby generating false impressions and click reports.  However, if that isn't the case, then it is acceptable to see production ads. 

Smart banners intelligently adapt to your device screen sizes and orientations, but they are not yet supported by all third-party networks.  You will have to clarify for support per use case.  You should be able to see smart banners "change" by rotating your devices, at the very least.

Cheers,

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Paul Grochowski]

Thanks for that clarification. On the second part, since I'm only using the official admob network for ad sources, I guess my inventory variety won't be affected then.

On Monday, September 28, 2015 at 8:58:45 AM UTC-4, Paul Grochowski wrote:

[Truong Giang]

Hi Chau. What happen if i show real ads on my game download via TestFlight, do i get banned? I cannot register device IDs for every device that tester using for test my apps. 

Is these any way to forge test mode on my game without register device IDs?

Thank you

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Giang,

To force global test mode, besides using the device ID, you can use our test ad unit IDs (banner: ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/6300978111, interstitial: ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/1033173712).

Cheers,

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi again Giang,

Since you're on iOS, the test ad unit IDs for iOS would be ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/2934735716 and ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/4411468910, for banners and interstitials, respectively.

Vu