Is the Android Advertising ID used with non-personalized ads?

[XT]

Hi,

I use non-personalized ads (npa=1) exclusively in my Android apps, and I'm wondering whether AdMob uses the Advertising ID in any way with such ads? Also, if it's not used, is it safe to remove the AD_ID permission from the apps by adding <uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID" tools:node="remove"/> to their manifests?

Thanks,

XT

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi XT,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

As per our release notes, Starting from version 20.4.0, Google Mobile Ads SDK includes the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission in the SDK's manifest that is automatically merged into the app manifest by Android build tools. To learn more about the AD_ID permission declaration, including how to disable it, refer to this Play Console Help article. Also, it is requires that all updates and new apps uploaded to Google Play use the advertising ID (when available on a device) in place of any other device identifiers for any advertising purposes.

Regards,

Princess Pamela Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[XT]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately it doesn't answer my question, though. I'm aware that the Google Mobile Ads SDK includes the AD_ID permission and that the permission is merged into the app manifest -- I was asking whether or not the SDK actually uses the advertising ID in any way, if I only have non-personalized (npa=1) AdMob ads in my apps.

XT

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi XT,

I work along with Princess. Allow me to assist you in this.

To give you a context, advertising ID generally used by ad SDKs for identifying devices for the purposes of targeted advertising. The advertising ID is not needed when you're requesting for non-personalized ads. However, as stated on this HC article, some SDKs, such as the Google Mobile Ads SDK (play-services-ads) may already declare this permission in the SDK’s library manifest. If your app uses these SDKs as dependencies, the AD_ID permission from the SDK’s library manifest will be merged with your app’s main manifest by default, even if you don’t explicitly declare the permission in your app’s main manifest.

Hope this clarifies your concern.

Regards,

Teejay Wennie Mobile Ads SDK Team

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