Pass location and cities interests to Admob in iOS

[Senaika]

Hi,

I'm integrating Admob for an iOS app.

I have GPS enable in the app. Is the GPS data automatically passed to Admob when displaying ads or do I need to set something ?

I also have cities interests. Is there a way to pass this data to Admob ? For example, a user is in London and is looking for information on New York. Can I pass a list of cities of interest to admob for better targeted advertisement ?

I'm assuming here user consent accepted through IDFA.

Please guide me to the right source regarding this.

Thank you,

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello,

Welcome to Mobile Ads SDK Support team. Thank you for reaching out to us.

With regards to your concern about GPS, the AdMob SDK does not use GPS directly. Kindly note that the AdMob SDK just for requesting ads. However you may check this documentation guide https://developers.google.com/admob/ios/privacy/precise-location for further information.

While with regards to cities of interest, can you check this articles if this fits to your use case?

• https://support.google.com/admob/answer/9598414?hl=en&sjid=8446747530596848281-AP
• https://developers.google.com/admob/ios/privacy

Let us know if you have further questions.
 

This message is in relation to case "ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2lJN3T:ref"

Thanks,
 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Senaika]

Hi there,

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, the first link doesn't provide sufficient information for passing GPS data to admob. Can you please clarify what you mean by "AdMob SDK does not use GPS directly". 

On this first link you provided, it is stated that "for publishers who pass users’ precise location data to Google, for ads-related purposes". Which bring me back to my question: "how do I pass precise location to admob, or is this done automatically ?

Regarding the cities of interest questions, those both links doesn't bring any answers. However I found the "keywords" property in the "request" class of the Admob SDK. (https://developers.google.com/admob/ios/api/reference/Classes/GADRequest#/c:objc(cs)GADRequest(py)keywords).

Would it make sense to pass the cities of interest directly in this property ?

With regards to your last link (https://developers.google.com/admob/ios/privacy), I do have here a few other questions, as this link is related to user acceptance for tracking.

- If the user refuses tracking, can we still pass cities of interests in the "keyword" property of the request class from admob SDK (assuming the "keyword" property is the right choice to pass this type of information)? 

- It is quite confusing to figure out how we have to deal with IDFA, GDPR and all those privacy concerns. Would you recommend to directly use the UMP SDK and manage the prompt message directly from the admob console for user acceptance of tracking? Or is there other way to manage IDFA ?

Also, just by curiosity, why the UMP SDK is not directly included in the Admob SDK? 

Thank you for your help. I'm really willing to have Admob in my app. It is quite easy to integrate it with your documentation. However all the docs for "tracking/sharing data" makes it quite difficult to understand what and how we are supposed to deal with this.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Senaika,

To answer your inquiry, while using Google Mobile Ads SDK, you don't need to write any additional code to collect a number of user properties automatically. While these properties may not be found in AdMob reporting, they will be available upon linking to Firebase. In Firebase, all of these user properties are available for use in Audience conditions, and some of them are also available as general report filters. You can read more in this link: https://support.google.com/admob/answer/9755590?hl=en.

This means that the ad served are automatically changed based on the user's location through the network server without any additional code from the developer. No GPS data will be used unless precise location data is needed. However, precise location data policy only applies to specific ad networks and is required if this policy applies to you.

With regards to your remaining inquiries:

- If the user refuses tracking, can we still pass cities of interests in the "keyword" property of the request class from admob SDK (assuming the "keyword" property is the right choice to pass this type of information)?

• Yes. Since keywords will only apply if there is a relevant ad available related to that keyword.

-It is quite confusing to figure out how we have to deal with IDFA, GDPR and all those privacy concerns. Would you recommend to directly use the UMP SDK and manage the prompt message directly from the admob console for user acceptance of tracking? Or is there other way to manage IDFA ?

Also, just by curiosity, why the UMP SDK is not directly included in the Admob SDK? 

• To use Privacy & messaging to manage and publish your IDFA explainer messages, you'll need to integrate the UMP SDK version 1.1.0 or greater into your apps, along with your GMA SDK. Using the UMP is a prerequisite. UMP SDK is not included directly by default due to it's non universal application. Meaning, not all countries require it. You can read more here: https://support.google.com/admob/answer/10115027?hl=en

[Senaika]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply, it helped me a lot. I consider the questions about GPS and keywords have been answered.

However, I am still confused with the UMP SDK. You state that "Using the UMP is a prerequisite" to manage and publish IDFA message. But from this link https://developers.google.com/admob/ios/ios14?hl=en it is stated that "If you're not using the UMP SDK, the rest of this page shows you how to implement the OS-level ATT authorization request manually.".

So what documentation should I follow to ask for iOS users for ATT authorization ?

Thank you in advance,

[Senaika]

A little update. I tried this afternoon to integrate the UMP SDK into my app (downloaded from https://developers.google.com/admob/ios/privacy/download?hl=fr), to discover that this framework is already included in the latest admob sdk for iOS (downloaded from https://developers.google.com/admob/ios/download?hl=fr) !?!? Which doesn't really match your previous answer, and just create more and more confusion.

Anyway, I did all the setup in the app to show an IDFA message, following the UMP sdk instructions. But when I try to create the IDFA message from my admob account, every time I click "select app", I get "an error occurred. please try again later". The app is not yet available in the App Store. How can I then test the UMP prompt message from the admob console ?

Also, I re-ask the question to my earlier post from today: Is this UMP really a prerequisite as some of your documentation say the opposite ?

I really appreciate your help.  Please let me know if you need my admob account ID.

Thank you in advance,

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Senaika,

To clarify, the UMP framework is included in the SDK but does not apply or is not required for every app. 

To use Privacy & messaging to manage and publish your IDFA explainer messages, you'll need to integrate the UMP SDK version 1.1.0 or greater into your apps, along with your GMA SDK. You can take these steps as you prepare for the release of iOS 14. You can visit these links for more information and guides on the UMP SDK for AdMob and Ad Manager. This information is based on this document:https://support.google.com/admob/answer/10115027?hl=en. 

Feel free to reach back to us if you have further concerns or inquries.

[Senaika]

Thank you for your reply.

Regarding the error message, it was due to Safari browser blocking the creation of IDFA. Work fine with Chrome.

Still, I'm confused if the UMP SDK is mandatory or not. My app will target European country, so I will show ATT message anyway. My only concern is that some of your documentation state that UMP SDK is a prerequisite, and some of your doc say it is not. Here you answer say " you'll need to integrate the UMP SDK version", which make it sounds mandatory.

But I see a lot of apps with Google Ads and their customized prompt message before the ATT prompt, which mean UMP SDK is not mandatory ?

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Senaika,

The UMP SDK is primarily for personalized or targeted ads. The ads you were referring before the ATT prompt are non-personalized or non-targeted. The UMP SDK is a means for a user the opt out or allow for these types of ads. Hence, the UMP SDK is not mandatory if you do not wish to serve personalized or targeted ads in your app.

[Senaika]

Hi Google,

Thank you for your answer. 

From you answer, I understand that the UMP SDK is a "mean" to show targeted ads, and thus not mandatory to serve personalized or targeted ads.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Senaika,

Thank you for your response. With regard to your previous question for UMP, if you don't want to use the UMP, you can create your own consent dialog that displays a message on your sites or apps asking your users in the EEA and the UK for consent. Just kindly make sure that you comply with the EU user consent policy (https://support.google.com/admob/answer/7666519?hl=en&sjid=958286124600267954-AP). Let us know if you have any other concerns for the implementation of the Mobile Ads SDK.