Important update to Mixpanel iOS library to avoid App Store rejection

[mars...@mixpanel.com]

Over the weekend, we received reports of applications which included our iOS library being rejected by Apple’s App Store. These rejections were the result of accessing the AdSupport.framework for the IFA (identifierForAdvertisers) when the application did not serve ads. Our library was using the IFA as the default distinct_id for all users of your app.

Though there has been an override option since 2.0.5 to avoid using the IFA, today we released a new version of our library that changes the default behavior. Starting with this version (2.3.1), Mixpanel will now intelligently choose the appropriate identifier. If the library detects that the host application is using the AdSupport.framework it will continue to use IFA as the identifier. For apps that do not serve ads and do not have the AdSupport.framework included, Mixpanel will default to using the identifierForVendor (IFV) as the distinct_id.

If you do not serve ads in your app, you should upgrade to our latest iOS library as part of your next app update to avoid a potential rejection by the App Store.

You can access v2.3.1 or a more recent version here: http://github.com/mixpanel/mixpanel-iphone/releases or through CocoaPods.

Also, thanks to @orta, @ksm, and @dblock for other bugfixes in this release.

Important note: To avoid potential rejection, developers of applications that do not serve ads should check other 3rd party packages for inclusion of AdSupport.framework, since this will cause the Mixpanel SDK to default to the use of IFA.

Finally, this change from IFA to IFV should not otherwise have any impact on your analytics and reporting. Developers should include it in new releases, but anonymous tracking and identity management will remain unchanged. New users will simply have an ID of an alternate form.

Please reach out to sup...@mixpanel.com with any questions.