Suspicious Camera Usage Leading to ANR in Google Ads SDK

[Bhavesh Solanki]

Hi Google Ads SDK Support Team,

We’ve encountered an ANR that appears to originate from the Google Ads SDK. Here are the details of the stack trace:

Our app does not allow or use camera-related functionalities in the ads code or while displaying ads. This behavior looks suspicious, as the ANR seems to be triggered by accessing camera-related APIs.

at androidx.camera.core.imagecapture.TakePictureRequest$$ExternalSyntheticLambda3._V (R8$$SyntheticClass) at org.chromium.content.browser.BrowserStartupControllerImpl.c (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:136) at WV.Z5.run (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:222) at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call (Executors.java:462) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run (FutureTask.java:266) at org.chromium.base.task.PostTask.d (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:12) at org.chromium.android_webview.AwBrowserProcess.j (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:33) at com.android.webview.chromium.N.e (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:217) at com.android.webview.chromium.N.b (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:42) at com.android.webview.chromium.N.g (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:5) at com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromiumFactoryProvider.m (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:8) at com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.init (chromium-TrichromeWebViewGoogle.aab-stable-677813531:97) at android.webkit.WebView.<init> (WebView.java:435) at android.webkit.WebView.<init> (WebView.java:355) at android.webkit.WebView.<init> (WebView.java:337) at android.webkit.WebView.<init> (WebView.java:324) at android.webkit.WebView.<init> (WebView.java:314) at com.google.android.gms.ads.internal.webview.ai.<init> (:com.google.android.gms.policy_ads_fdr_dynamite@244410211@244410203017.691591528.691591528:1)

Could you please:

1. Investigate and help resolve this ANR?
2. Share why the Ads SDK is accessing camera-related functionalities?
3. Let us know if there is a way to notify the SDK not to use specific device hardware functionalities (e.g., camera, location, or other hardware) that are not permitted in our app.

This issue is impacting the stability of our app, and we would greatly appreciate a prompt response with clarification and a potential fix.

Looking forward to your assistance.

Thanks,
Bhavesh

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Bhavesh,

Thank you for contacting the Mobile Ads SDK Support team.

It is always recommended to keep the SDKs up to date to avoid such issues. 

Please note that the best way to optimize initialization is to call MobileAds.initialize() on a background thread, as described in the Get Started guide. 

Looking at the logs, it appears the ANR is related to WebView init. The WebView init is a heavy task (especially the 1st init call) which unfortunately will occupy the UI thread. The Google Mobile Ads SDK relies on WebView heavily. We would still like to see a minimal reproducible to fully diagnose the issue but at this time we can only recommend lightening the load on the UI thread during app startup, such as delaying tasks until it's necessary to call them. You can also refer to the WebView API.

If the issue still persists, kindly provide the below information privately so we can gain full visibility of your implementation.

• ad unit ID
• The full stack trace
• Steps to replicate (Without any reproducible steps the ANR is not actionable)
• Affected devices
• Sample project reproducing the issue if possible

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This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vGuve:ref" (ADR-00283781)

Thanks,
 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

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