iOS 9 App Transport Security Prevents Ad Display

[Mark W]

Hi,

I’ve been testing our apps on iOS 9 and have discovered that the App Transport Security feature of iOS 9 prevents the display of ads (banners and interstitials). I have managed to work around this by defining exception policies in the app plist for the various domains where the ads are served from (e.g. googleads.g.doubleclick.net) but this is a fragile “solution” as should the domains where ads are served from change then we’d have to re-submit an app update, losing ad revenue in the meantime.

What are the SDK plans in relation to handling App Transport Security in iOS 9?

Are exception policies in the app plist the best route to go? If so, can you publish a set of domain names that should be used by apps displaying ads on iOS 9?

Thanks,

-Mark

[Elton Kent]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for reaching out. AdMob is moving all ad requests over HTTPS and this transition is already underway. This is a server side change and you would not be required to perform an app update.

Cheers,

Elton

[Jeff Pedersen]

Hi Elton,

Will AdMob let us know with a blog post when the transition is complete so we can implement ATS?

Thanks!

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Jeff, I'm curious about what you experienced when you tested your apps on iOS9. In almost all cases, you should already be seeing the ad requests running over HTTPS.

Are you using AdMob or DoubleClick for Publishers to serve your ads? If it's the former, are you using mediation? If it's the latter, what type of creatives are you using?

-Andrew