Question Android 13 & Advertising ID Declaration Required by Google Play

So it looks like Google Play now requires a specific declaration about Advertising ID presence.

Android 13 (API 33) introduces changes to advertising ID

Apps that use advertising ID and target Android 13 or later must declare the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission in their app manifest. If you don't include this permission, your advertising identifier will be zeroed out, any attempts to access the identifier will receive a string of zeros instead of the identifier. Learn more

We'll use this declaration to provide safeguards in Play Console

If you say that your app uses advertising ID, we will block releases that don't include the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission in the manifest file when targeting Android 13. When we block these releases, we will remind you to add the permission. If your release doesn't need advertising ID, you'll be able to skip the error and release. You can also update the declaration to turn off advertising ID release errors.

You cannot rollout releases with artifacts targeting Android 13 until you have completed this declaration.

When you answer this question, make sure to verify if any third-party SDK code in your app uses advertising ID. If so, you must declare that your app uses it. Some SDKs, such as the Google Mobile Ads SDK (Play Services-ads) may already declare the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission in the SDK's library manifest. If your app uses these SDKs as dependencies, the com.google.android.gms.permission.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. Learn more​

I use Unity IAP and Unity Analytics, however I display ZERO ADS and never will in my app. But I do know (from completing the recent data survey) that Unity does do some weird fuzzy unique device identification stuff:

from https://docs.unity.com/analytics/GoogleDataSafety.html

Does the SDK collect the user’s personal identifiers? A randomly generated installation ID (or developer-generated ID) is used to identify the player.​

(I did not particularly enjoy having to answer Yes to this from how Google frames it to the user)

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Anyway, I wanted to 100% confirm am I allowed to answer NO to this new Advertising ID declaration?

 

@skullhug Correct, say no. Unity Analytics nor Unity IAP reads or sends the AD_ID.

 

Sweet, thanks for the confirmation Jeff!

 

@JeffDUnity3D I'm using Unity Ads in my games, should I say yes or no?

 

Sorry, not Analytics related, please post in the Ads forum. But if you are using Ads, then you are likely sending the advertising ID.

 

We are using unity ads. I wanted clear answer from unity. am I allowed to answer YES to this new Advertising ID declaration? And they ask that Why does your app need to use advertising ID? This includes any SDKs your app imports that use advertising IDs. Which categories should I tic below?
App functionality
Analytics
Developer communications
Advertising or marketing
Fraud prevention, security, and compliance
Personalization
Account management

 

As mentioned, please ask in the Ads forum. https://forum.unity.com/forums/unity-ads-user-acquisition.67/ Locking this thread now.