AppStore keeps rejecting Kids App

AppStore is rejected my App for Kids. I am using Unity 2019.2.15! And I am not using any Analytics or Ads. I set the age destiniation to under 13.
DisableHW Statistics is checked!
In the UnityConnectionSettings.asset every m_Enabled is set to 0.

But the Appstore keeps telling me that the App is sending data to a third party.
What can I do? Please help!


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Guideline 1.3 - Safety - Kids Category


We continued to notice that your kids app includes third-party analytics, third-party advertising or collects, transmits, or has the ability to share personal information or device information.

Specifically, your app includes the following feature(s), contrary to guideline 1.3 of the App Store Review Guidelines:

Third-party analytics with the ability to collect, transmit or share identifiable information (such as name, address, date of birth, email, location, photos, videos, drawing or the ability to chat), device information, or the IDFA.

Next Steps

To resolve this issue, please remove this functionality or revise your app so that no personally identifiable information or device information is sent to third parties.
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I don't have a solution for you, but apple started to get really strict on updates to my games in the kids category about a year and a half ago. My only 'solution' was to abandon them and create new apps in the 'family' category instead of kids, which obviously cost a lot. :/

 

I have the same problem, someone has a solution?

 

Hello, we have same problem. Our app uses InApp, so Analytics is enabled too. We've disabled HW statistics in player settings, added runtime code to disable Analytics like this

Code (CSharp):

1.  [RuntimeInitializeOnLoadMethod(RuntimeInitializeLoadType.BeforeSceneLoad)]
2.     public static void OnRuntimeMethodLoad() {
3.         UnityEngine.Analytics.Analytics.enabled = false;
4.         UnityEngine.Analytics.Analytics.deviceStatsEnabled = false;
5.         UnityEngine.Analytics.Analytics.limitUserTracking = true;
6.         UnityEngine.Analytics.PerformanceReporting.enabled = false;
7.         UnityEngine.Analytics.Analytics.initializeOnStartup = false;
8.     }

Also we've test with Charles Proxy ans saw this

 

I mean...

 

Hello everyone, we have the same problem with a new app. Apple review still rejecting and they says:

"Thank you for your response. In regards to 1.3.0 rejection, your app was found to include:

- Firebase Analytics
- Google Analytics
- Crashlytics
- Unity Analytics

It would be approriate to remove these before resubmitting your app for review."

So even if the plugins are inactive by code, info.list or whatever you deactivate the plugin, they says that the app should NOT even include it in the build. So the question is:
1- How can we implement in app purchases without include Unity Analytics plugin (not only deactivating the plug in on load).
2- How can we include this plugins like firebase analytics only for Android and completly remove the package for IOS.

Thanks!

 

Hello @JeffDUnity3D do you have any update on this issue?
Thanks!

 

Same problem here. No Analytics, no IAP, no services at all, yet Apple is claiming my app is collecting personal data. And from what I've read in these forums, it doesn't seem disabling hw statistics or messing with Unity Connect Settings or even the generated XCode project is going to do any good. And I certainly am not thrilled by the idea of randomly disabling stuff then build and submit my app again and just blindly hope that's gonna be it...

I appreciate that whatever the issue is on Unity's side, it might not be easy at all to fix, but "test Charles proxy" and "we are working on it" doesn't sound very satisfying when the app is not supposed to send anything whatsoever. It's a real bummer to find out I won't be able to release my App for Kids, and the lack of any sort of schedule or detailed answer from Unity's part is kinda stressful to be honest (though I'm thankful you're at least adressing the issue here...)

Still no update? Can we expect one any time soon or do I have to give up on the Kids category if I want to publish my app?

 

Hi There,

I am facing the same issue. My game for kids contain IAP and Unity Analytics is causing the app to get rejected.

Please Help!

 

I think you missed his point (although it's slightly offtopic here, since it isn't directly related to Unity Analytics)

Making sure your app does not submit anything, even when you are not using any services, requires you to mess with Unity Connect Settings, edit the XCode project, run a bunch of commands to disable Unity stuff that keep re-enabling itself and finally perform a dance to honor the privacy gods.

There is no way for us to be sure that our Game/App does not transmit anything at all, since everything seems to want to transmit stuff by default, and playing whack-a-mole with various settings and checkboxes and editing files does not inspire me with confidence.

So I fail to see how legal departments contacting each other would help with that.

 

It is not clear for me what can be done or cant be done in kids App

¿ Is OK to show ads if we have parental gate before ?
¿ is OK to sell things if we have parental gate before ?

lot of thanks

 

@Alima-Studios You can show ads and also sell items with a parental gateway, but you cannot send any user data from the app.

 

I only got my app approved modifying the DeviceSettings.mm in xCode. Explained in this old thread: https://forum.unity.com/threads/ios-advertising-identifier-rejection-faq.226187/

 

Hello @planetfactory, i believe that this modifications in DeviceSettings.mm only disables de IDFA. According to the last Apple rejection on our app we need to remove the Unity.Analytics package in our build (and any analytics framework, like firebase). So the problem is not just the information that is sent to the network, they claim to REMOVE sdks or framework with the ability to collect or send this sensitive data.
Here is the response from Apple:

"Third-party analytics with the ability to collect, transmit or share identifiable information (such as name, address, date of birth, email, location, photos, videos, drawing or the ability to chat), device information, or the IDFA."

And more specific:
"Thank you for your response. In regards to 1.3.0 rejection, your app was found to include:
- Firebase Analytics
- Google Analytics
- Crashlytics
- Unity Analytics
It would be approriate to remove these before resubmitting your app for review."

Best Regards

 

well... i hope there is some official guide soon , i will wait before sending anotherversion to apple

 

About the legal stuff. What if you dont click the box saying made for kids? I wonder if that will make a different. You could still have a low age rating. And as previous post mentioned something about posting the app in the family category... just a thought..

 

Hello @Jakob, in first place once you has tagged an app as made for kids cannot leave this category never. Besides, if your app is not in this category you cannot use words like Kids or children in app title or subtitle. This has a negative effect on organic search.
So we need to resolve this issue asap please!
Best Regards

 

Yes i understand we are also in the same situation. We have been done with our app since november so I want this to be fixed asap aswell. Im currently looking into using another solution for iap.

 

I have removed the IAP, disabled all unity analytics from UnityConnectionSettings.asset, changed all https urls to http and disabled Arbitrary Load in info.plist file (so iOS blocks all outgoing calls), tested with Charls. Submitted the app again - guess what. Rejected! Got a call from Apple, they say they can still find unityanalytics, unityads and reference to IDFA in my app. 6 months of work I put in this game and now I can't publish it.

Is there any way I can completely remove unity analytics and unity ads from iOS project if I am not using IAP?

Hope you guys solve this problem soon. At-least for the apps that do not use IAP.

 

Hello @JeffDUnity3D Doy you have an ETA or any update for the solution to this problem? We really need to publish our apps. Thanks

 

@JeffDUnity3D so could you give us the step by step what needs to be done to the devicesettings.mm file so that we can do it correctly.

 

Thanks Jeff!
We had already tracked down these forums and your advice, and have followed it as closely as possible and resubmitted for review. However we couldnt find the following variables and functions:

static NSString* _ADID = nil;
static bool _AdTrackingEnabled = false;

static void QueryAdID()
{
<..>
}
static void QueryAdTracking()
{

Was wondering also if this doesnt work, if there was a way you could check our .mm to see if we have somehow missed something.
I will report back here regardless once the review gets back. For now I am off to tap every bit of wood in my suburb.

 

Thanks for the update Jeff.

This solution to edit DeviceSettings.mm was posted in 2014
https://forum.unity.com/threads/ios-advertising-identifier-rejection-faq.226187/

This is something that hasn't been fixed?

 

Yep they aren't there, this isn't the solution

 

Hey everyone, really happy to be able to say:
CAN CONFIRM! After months of hell, we are ready to launch on iOS with it being approved for all ages, and will be in their Family program.
We did do stuff other than just editing this file, waiting on the other member to properly debrief/put it all together then I will post the exact steps we took here.. which might help eliminate some of the guessing.
Also: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

Congrats Are you using Unity IAP and Analytics? And if so, in what way did you disable Unity Analytics in a way sufficient for the Appstore reviewers?

 

Sorry hsallander we aren't using IAP or Analytics, in fact because we were going for the whole kid friendly family area I believe we couldn't have any analytics whatsoever.
The game was a contractual arrangement for a piece of exposure/edutainment, so there's no monetisation (the Apple person who called me was SO suspect on it). So what we did may not help you guys out, will post the steps we took soon though.

 

Today we got our app approved. It has been a long time coming and I cant count the number of times we have been rejected but finally we made it through the approving process. We have unity iap in the project the app has a subscription that unlocks the content.

Steps we took
1. Did the changes to the devicesettings.mm file that has been recommended.
2. We also disabled analytics on start. (hoping that we can turn this on soon)
3. hw statistics is also disabled.

 

Could you share your DeviceSettings.mm?

 

Same problem here.
After being rejected 2 times removing ads banner and adding a parental control for every buttons targeting external URL, we got a 3rd round with same issues mentioned in this thread.

Would be smart to add a rating control setting in 2020 to patch all those problems once for all if we select an young audience!

Gonna apply every tips from that thread and see if it passes .


EDIT : Actually is there any Unity URL describing the data collected when we active the in-app purchase? It is what Apple asking. I can reply for the data sent from my code to Analytics but not sure about what Unity really collects.

 

I'm guessing it's the same as what they collect for Analytics.

https://unity3d.com/legal/privacy-policy

 

Finally my app got approved!

Here's what I did (some of which might not be necessary):

1. Removed IAP
2. Modified manifest.json file and removed all dependencies relating to analytics and unity ads
3. Modified UnityConnectSettings.asset to disable everything and changed the urls to http (from https)
4. in XCode, modified info.plist file to set Allow Arbitrary Load to NO (this blocks all http calls)
5. Modified DeviceSettings.mm to remove all references to get Advertising Id
6. Tested using Charles to make sure no data is transmitted from the app

@JeffDUnity3D is right, Apple's main concern was accessing IDFA.

I can share my DeviceSettings.mm file later if anyone wants.

Thanks.

 

Alright then I do not believe removing in-app purchase, ads and analytic in the app is a solution.
I believe we are still able using it but it seems Unity is going over the basic data gathering when it comes of Analytic.

Below my reply to Apple :



And then they replied back :





Finally In-app purchase (Unity) and Ads (Google Admobs) aren't the problem anymore it seems, but the analytic from Unity gathering data which we aren't even aware of?

I will wit a bit, and if Unity doesn't fix it in further 2020.1.x release I'll support the in-app purchase with another third party plugin to remove all analytic (I'll probably go with Google as well).
As far as I remember Prime31 always did a good job in the past. Wondering where did it go since?....

 

Jakob seemed to have a working solution https://forum.unity.com/threads/appstore-keeps-rejecting-kids-app.811962/#post-5506693. It would be great to hear the official engineering team response regarding the required edits https://forum.unity.com/threads/appstore-keeps-rejecting-kids-app.811962/#post-5502064 I'm hoping this will be in the next few days - am I being naive?

 

Isn't the problem those extra data gathered from the app actually?
In my previous message Apple support mentions about the "Device Information", etc...

 

We are getting this issue too. The only thing we have is Firebase, and I tried removing all instances of device ID, IDFA, etc. Still getting rejected.

 

Have you edited the DeviceSettings.mm file as described above?

 

Of course if I am not using the IAP I do not see the point to release a full free app for god sake