iOS Kids Application rejection

[Sergey Tychina]

Hello,

we are trying to submit kids application to the app store that serve the ads using IMA SDK (GoogleAds-IMA-iOS-SDK v3.13.0). Apple keeps rejecting the app with the following reason:
Third-party analytics or third-party advertising with the ability to collect, transmit or share identifiable information, including, for example, IDFA. Specifically, we found that your app references the ASIdentifierManager API, which provides access to a user’s IDFA, in the following location(s) in your binary:

• /System/Library/Frameworks/AdSupport.framework/AdSupport

• Frameworks/GoogleInteractiveMediaAds.framework/GoogleInteractiveMediaAds

IMA SDK force add AdSupport framework to the app and uses ASIdentifierManager class:

nm GoogleInteractiveMediaAds | grep ASIdentifierManager

                 U _OBJC_CLASS_$_ASIdentifierManager

Is there an option to use IMA framework without referencing AdSupport directly?

Thanks in advance,

  Sergey.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Sergey,

Thank you for bringing this question to our attention. I was able to look up a few things that could be related to the issue that you are having. The first thing I would suggest is to contact Apple about this. Based on what I have read this is sometimes due to Apples ability to consistently apply there policy for new apps with IDFA. From our perspective while we do use this, we are not pulling any user data. We would also suggest that you make sure that you are on the most updated IMA version as this could also cause an issue. You can also read more about this here .

Regards,

William Pescherine IMA SDK Team

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[Sergey Tychina]

Hi William,

thanks for your reply. We've contacted Apple regarding not pulling user data and the've responded that they use static analysis to determine if the app uses ASIdentifierManager class (see nm command in the original post) and the app will be rejected even IDFA is not being used.

Some other frameworks provided solution where you can pass IDFAProvider delegate yourself that will either use ASIdentifierManager or any other solution to provide IDFA. 

ex:

configuration.adSupportBlock = {
    ASIdentifierManager.shared().advertisingIdentifier.uuidString
}

Best regards,

  Sergey.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Sergey,

Thank you for the response back. I have also found one other item that can help you. Here is a document that talks about setting the tcfd flag to 1 which should turn off the ads serving to children. This is designed to help with making sure that IDFA will be turned off for you. Which will satisfy the Apple review. Also from what I have seen sometimes apple does reject it for unknown reasons. So if you try a few times and are rejected then let us know. And I will bring it to my team.

[Sergey Tychina]

William,

setting tcfd to 1 will not remove ASIdentifierManager import from the code. Static analysis will still show a reference to it. There should be definitely a code change on IMA client framework side to resolve this.

Thanks,

  Sergey.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Sergey,

Thank you for the response back. I have taken the information that you have given me. And passed this along to my teammates. We will look more into this and see what we can do to help you resolve this issue. Once we hear back from them, we will be certain to pass it along to you.

[Sergey Tychina]

Hi William,

have you heard anything back from your team? Any options or estimates on this?

Thanks,

  Sergey.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Sergey,

I work with William and will assist you. I relayed your comments to my team and we will get back to you when we have more information.

Regards,

Aryeh Baker IMA SDK Team

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[Sergey Tychina]

Hey Aryeh,

any update from the team by chance?

Thanks,

  Sergey.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Sergey,

We believe we are complying with Apple's policies for children. When Following our Tag an ad request for child-directed treatment guide we don't personalize ads and don't collect data on children. You may want to follow up with Apple directly.

[Sergey Tychina]

hey Aryeh,

unfortunately sending flag with URL doesn't work. Please find Apple response below:

Third-party analytics or third-party advertising with the ability to collect, transmit or share identifiable information, including, for example, IDFA. Specifically, we found that your app references the ASIdentifierManager API, which provides access to a user's IDFA, in the following location(s) in your binary:

• /System/Library/Frameworks/AdSupport.framework/AdSupport
• Frameworks/GoogleInteractiveMediaAds.framework/GoogleInteractiveMediaAds

To resolve this issue, it would be appropriate to remove all instances of “ASIdentifierManager” from your app, even if they are not utilized in your app's functionality.

to comply with Apple requirement, IMA must not link AdSupport framework and must not utilise ASIdentifierManager API

Thanks,

  Sergey.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Sergey,

I will bring up your response to the rest of my team and will get back to you as soon as we have more information.

[gideonblaze]

Hi Aryeh, just following up on this issue as well. We have a growing portfolio of kids apps that we can no longer update on the app store due to the ASIdentifierManager API issue with IMA SDK.

Any eta on when you might have an update?

Thanks,

Gideon.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Gideon,

We are still looking into this. I will raise your comments and your situation up with the rest of my team and will get back to you as soon as we have more information.

[Gabe Goldberg]

Aryeh,

Is there an update on this?  We are currently blocked from moving forward with our app due to this issue.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Gabe,

This is being actively looked in to by my team but I have nothing actionable to report. I relayed your comments about waiting for resolution with blocked apps and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

[Gabe Goldberg]

Aryeh,

Its been a while since we have seen any movement on this.  Can you please provide an update?

[Interactive Media Ads SDK]

Reposting the last inquiry link from the forum as it wasn't routed to our support queue.

Cheers,

William Pescherine

IMA SDK Team

[IMA SDK]

Hi Gabe,

Let me follow up this with the team to get an update, will get back to you once we have the information.


Regards,

Sherwin Diesta IMA SDK Team

 

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[g.gol...@applicaster.com]

Hello,

Is there an update?  It's been over a month since we have heard anything and it's still preventing new apps from being launched.

[IMA SDK]

Hi,

Thank you for reaching back out to us. I have contacted our team and let them know that this is causing a block for you and that we need to try to move this forward. As it stands right now we ware looking to get this fixed  and just waiting for certain responses back. Which we have not yet gotten.

Regards,

William Pescherine Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[Ella Aflalo]

Hi, 

Taking over for Gabe here, do we have any update on this?

Best,

Ella

[IMA SDK]

Hi Ella,

Thank you for reaching back out to us. I have also messaged various teammates about this and at the moment do not have anything to pass along. But know that it is in fact being looked at and know that from what we have heard back, this is going to take some time to fully adjust.

Regards,

William Pescherine IMA SDK Team

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[IMA SDK]

Hi Ella,

Unfortunately, it looks like discussions between Apple and Google, with regards to the application of their "kids" app policies are not likely to be resolved quickly. As such, at this point we are not considering the IMA SDK compatible with iOS's "kids" category of apps.

Sorry for the long delay,

Greg Schoppe

[Jarosław Kochaniec]

Hi All 

any update regarding removing ASIdentifierManager from Google IMA SDK?