Repeated rejection of iOS game due to "App Tracking Transparency"
Chris Fitsimons
Member Posts: 134
Hi. @adent42
When I first submitted my game I stated "App Tracking Transparency" is present but not used and does not collect user data. My app was approved.
I needed to push out an update. I included all the information as before and my app was rejected due to having "App Tracking Transparency" in the build even though it states its not used. After repeated rejections and having an appeal rejected, I need some advice.
Is there anyway to remove this from the build? Maybe a check box in the portal?
Chris
Comments
Just follow this blog:
And call App Tracking Transparency when your app launches.
Interesting. I have no AdMob in any of my apps. I have filled out App Privacy as seen here.
So if no tracking of any kind is used, would App Track Transparency still need need to be run at app start-up?
No. If you don't use Admob or Ironsource it is not necessary. But there is currently no way to remove the library so when Apple checks they see it.
@adent42 any way around this ? To be able to remove the flag from the binary?
someone mentioned in another recent thread that if you download your compiled app, you can remove the framework from the package and manually sign, then submit.
i think @adent42 also mentioned there would be a checkbox added on the publishing page soon to not include it.
...but for anyone using ads, even if not targeted, i think you still need to include as ads will send a users coarse location to servers to generate ads, as pointed out in the blog @adriangomez linked. i emailed apple to get some more clarity about it. if they come back with something useful i’ll share on here.
@adent42 Are publishing servers working? Seems to be stuck Build RC Pending for a long time. Same state in both Chrome and Safari.
Restarted the icon server and things seem better.
Update publishing so if the value is blank / undefined, it will be removed from the plist.
Many thanks for fixing 👍
so got an email from google, like i’m guessing everyone with a google developer account, that looks like they will be following apple with the device ID thing for ads. here it is for those that haven’t seen it. not sure if there needs to be any action from gs (like the consent for ads variable thing needing to ask or just getting its value from the device), or if it’ll just adjust based on the setting of device used:
We’re always looking for ways to make Google Play a safer and more trustworthy experience for both developers and consumers. We’re writing to let you know about upcoming changes to our Advertising policy that will provide users with more control over their data, and help bolster security and privacy.
With advertising ID, we offer users meaningful controls like allowing them to reset their identifier at any time and / or to opt out of using the identifier for personalized ads.
As part of Google Play services update in late 2021, the advertising ID will be removed when a user opts out of personalization using advertising ID in Android Settings. Any attempts to access the identifier will receive a string of zeros instead of the identifier.
This Google Play services phased rollout will affect apps running on Android 12 devices starting late 2021 and will expand to affect apps running on devices that support Google Play in early 2022. In July, we will provide more details and an alternate solution to support essential use cases such as analytics and fraud prevention.
Learn more about advertising ID in our Help Center and best practices for unique identifiers on our developer site.
I'll need to read more but it looks like Google is just adding a setting in the systems setting menu to turn off ad Ids. Since we don't pull ad IDs directly, it's up to the ad networks to handle this. I think we already do use the ad id framework through the ad providers, but worst case, this will be handled through our regular ad id updates.
so these are the questions i asked, and response i received, from apple. not sure how they don’t know the answers, given it’s their framework they require implemented by developers.
me:
I'm using admob non-personalised/targeted ads in my apps, I'm assuming I still need to include app tracking transparency framework (given they use coarse location to display). is that correct?
if that's the case, and a person has switched off the setting on their device to ask about tracking, will non-targeted ads still work as per normal?
apple:
Because Admob is a third party mobile advertising platform, we are unable to say how it will work with our frameworks. For more information on this, please contact Admob directly.