(Bug?) Interstitial video ads break audio playback in app

[Ashley Gullen]

Hi, we develop middleware for developing iOS apps using Cordova. A user reported to us the following issue which we can reproduce: after showing an interstitial video ad, the app can no longer play any audio. It works if the app is actively playing audio at the time the interstitial plays, in which case the audio is faded out when the ad starts and then fades back in when the ad finishes, and then audio playback continues to work normally. However if the app is not actively playing audio at the time the interstitial plays, the app is unable to play any more audio once the ad finishes.

This does not reproduce with rewarded video ads - they seem to work fine. There seems to be a problem with interstitial video ads specifically.

When the bug happens the Xcode log shows a few errors similar to these:

2020-05-20 11:51:57.383791+0100 MobileAdTest[254:3572] [assertion] Error acquiring assertion: <NSError: 0x281f65380; domain: RBSAssertionErrorDomain; code: 2; reason: "Client is missing required entitlement"> {

    userInfo = {

        RBSAssertionAttribute = <RBSLegacyAttribute: 0x15bd8d850; requestedReason: MediaPlayback; reason: MediaPlayback; flags: PreventTaskSuspend | PreventTaskThrottleDown | WantsForegroundResourcePriority>;

    }

}

2020-05-20 11:51:57.384638+0100 MobileAdTest[254:3572] [ProcessSuspension]  0x10a9b1fb8 - ProcessAssertion() PID 254 Unable to acquire assertion for process with PID 254

...

2020-05-20 11:52:08.412831+0100 MobileAdTest[254:3271] [ProcessSuspension] 0x10a9e7f60 - ProcessAssertion::processAssertionWasInvalidated()

2020-05-20 11:52:18.633665+0100 MobileAdTest[254:3271] Could not signal service com.apple.WebKit.WebContent: 113: Could not find specified service

I would guess that the interstitial video ad is claiming permission for audio playback, but failing to return it to the app at the end.

We are using the ads SDK version 7.58.0 (I'm aware 7.59.0 is out, but the release notes do not mention anything about audio), and tested on an iPad Pro (12.9 inch) running iOS 13.4.1.

Is this a bug in the ads SDK?

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for bringing this question to our attention.

Just wanted to let you know hat this forum is for those looking to implement our SDK into there app using Android SDK, Xcode, or Unity.

As such we are unable to offer support to developers looking to create middleware or plugins that are used for app development. Also we are unable to offer support for Cordova as it is not one of the 3 previously mentioned.

I would suggest maybe posting on the Cordova forums to see if others might have seen any issue.

Regards,
William Pescherine
Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[Ashley Gullen]

I thought I posted this in the iOS section.

There is strong evidence this is an issue with the Mobile Ads SDK. There is no reason to think this is a problem with Cordova. You should be willing to look in to it. Don't just tell me to go away!

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for responding back and letting us know more.

We are here to help you when dealing with implementation of the Admob SDK into any apps that you are building using Android SDK, Xcode, or Unity. As you stated previously, you are looking to build a plugin or middleware for iOS which from what you stated is using Cordova. Which this team does not support.

If you would like to send us your code to look at and see what it is you are doing we can try to offer some suggestion. But again as stated we do not support development work on middleware.

At the same time I have done some quick searches into a few of the things that I saw from what you gave us. 

1. There appears to be an issue with the video player and the OS/app that causes the fail on returning from the ad. Which you would not get in a rewarded since rewarded tend to be static not always of course. And we tend to see this when developing in platforms outside of what we support.
2. PID 254 looking over this it is a data issue? But again this could be caused by the previous issue just sending bad data back.
3. Error code 254 from apple/ios again seems to be a data, execution error?Something is not coming back correctly from the videoplayer it would appear.
4. Also if you are trying to do fade ins and fade outs I believe the Admob sdk has those also built in and could be conflicting with that?

Also if you would like I would suggest that you maybe contact the Admob Support Team as they could possibly help you more. Or even contact our Product Support Team.

[Ashley Gullen]

I am using Xcode. Apple have made that mandatory. I have an Xcode project using the Google Mobile Ads SDK for iOS and it seems to have a bug. I want to report this bug. I couldn't find a bug tracker so I ended up here. Is this the right place to report issues?

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for the updated information.

Since you are working in Xcode I will be more then happy to help you here. I would just ask for some addition information so that we can look more in to this and if needed we will pass this along to those who can help you.

I would just need for you to share via "Reply privately to author" button with the following information.

• Pub Id and Ad Unit Id so we can test against them.
• Any error codes, Charles logs, or stack traces that we can look over.
• Sample app or code snippet that we can test against or test on our own sample app.
• Link to a live app if such exist.

Regards,
William Pescherine
Mobile SDK Team

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[Ashley Gullen]

Hi William,

I replied privately with further details.

We've had multiple reports from users of this issue happening since we updated Google-Mobile-Ads-SDK from 7.43.0 to 7.58.0 for the WKWebView support. This suggests there is a regression in the SDK. We also have a number of users who are interested in the outcome of this investigation so any help identifying the issue is appreciated.

Ashley

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for all the information you sent.

We have it and I will be bringing this to our team to look over.

As a small point for you. I know you are ware of 7.59, and one of the things that would be suggested is to upgrade to current version, as generally that is advised. And not sure if that might help a bit. In the mean time we will look more into this for you. Once we receive any feedback we will pass it along. Also you can check our release notes for any future updates.

Regards,
William Pescherine
Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[Jimmy Jin]

在 2020年5月20日星期三 UTC+8下午7:09:57，Ashley Gullen写道：

[Hantu Duit]

it be network signal inpact..
uncomplete detail and setting

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