Google Play Services Update Ad ID Permission & Policies for Family Apps

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6048248

I have a question in regards to the new Google Play Services update this year, in which the advertising ID will be removed when a user opts out of this in the android settings.

How do the Ads Monetizations such as Unity Ads, Google Mobile Ads SDK, and Applovin collect the Advertising ID, and how can we check to see if this in fact collected, so we can remove it?

In the policy above, it states that some SDK's such as Google Mobile Ads SDK may declare this permission in the manifest - however upon checking the manifest, I do not see the permission to collect the Ad ID.

Is there an easy way to disable this or do we need to declare this line here in the manifest if we don't see it in there?

<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID" tools:node="remove"/>

Any help appreciated as we are trying to understand how this will be enforced by April 2022 when Google stated they will expect developers to update any family related apps on the Play Store & remove the collection of the Ad ID.

 

hello @SandJewel did you find answer re the question?
i'm also trying to understand the new google play service policy re kids/family game and AD ID

 

Hello Everyone,

This is an issue for me as well. I tried manually adding com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID to my Android manifest file and the build failed. So I need to get this working so Google AdMob will work in Android 12 but there doesn't seem to be a way to do this in Unity. I am using unity 2019 right now I am going to update to 2021.211f1 and see if there is support for it there.

 

You try put line
<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID"/>
outside application tag.

 

I have the similar issue:

Unity2020.3.18f

1) I have already set to use Custom Main Manifest in Project Settings -> Player -> Publishing Settings -> Build -> Custom Main Mainifest box is checked

2) In the Manifest file Assets\Plugins\Android\AndroidManifest.xml I pasted <uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID"/> out side the application tag and before </manifest>

But i still get this warning message when I upload my project into Google Play Console:
"You must complete the advertising ID declaration before you can release an app that targets Android 13 (API 33). We'll use this declaration to provide safeguards in Play Console to accommodate changes to advertising ID in Android 13.

Apps targeting Android 13 or above and use advertising ID must include the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission in the manifest."

Attached are screen shots of my Project Setting and Manifest. Any ideas?

 

If you're using Unity Ads (V4.0.1 and newer I believe) this is handled automatically (during the build process Unity Ads will add this to the manifest)

I think Google is showing this prompt for all apps that contain an Ad SDK (regardless of whether the permission is set). I don't think there is anyway to avoid it.

You just need to answer No or Yes (then tick the relevant feature boxes) and that's it. Looks like it's a one time thing (per app)

Hope this helps.

 

Where I find that No or Yes buttons? Attached image is what I see

 

Select your app in the Google Play dashboard then select the App Content section. It can be found at the bottom.

 

found it! Thanks!

 

Hi.
Does unity use the advertising ID if the Ads services are turned off in the app? (Analytics and in app purchasing are turned on)

 

This is the solution for me. I manually added the line but to the wrong place. Thanks

 

I've tried doing that but it didnt work, any ideas?

 

If anyone is still having these problems, I bashed my head against the keyboard for a day until I finally solved it. I had another release that didn't have this permission and used an older build, and somehow this error was presented for my new release without any mention of the older one. So try update/remove any old active builds that don't have this permission.

 

I keep getting this error even though i have the permission in the manifest from using legacy advertisement.

is this a unity bug?

All my old builds have been replaced with new ones and it keeps popping up. I cant remove old releases.