Question Your app includes non compliant SDK version

Hi, found this thread as I also had the "The type or namespace name 'IUnityAdsListener' could not be found" issue after upgrading to latest Ads SDK version, and also planning to update my game on Play Store.

It looks like @ebouchard88 you got your game approved by Google now? If not, please post here, then I can follow up internally here at Unity. (Note: I'm not working in Unity Ads team/org, but can reach out ofc)

Thanks,
Rasmus

 

Well, Google said that my games we approved. But I continue to receive the warning on subsequent submissions regardless of the track. So it is not clear if the issue is resolved. I am waiting for an answer from them. I will give them a few more days before I contact them again.

 

I figured this out. The problematic version was on my internal release which had older SDK. I stopped getting the error once I updated my internal release to the latest public version.

 

Does Unity Analytics or Unity In App Purchases contain reference to the Advertising ID, Android ID etc.?

 

Without having looked closer at the code, my impression is that neither Analytics or In App Purchases (IAP) SDKs are referencing any unique/personal IDs. At least I got my kids-category game approved recently by Apple, and that has both Analytics and IAP, but not Ads

 

To remove problematic bundle/package (aab/apk) from test tracks or internal release, create a new release on that track which is not necessarily having a bundle at all, and writing dummy to release name, and publish it. This will make that bundle inactive, prevent it from generating the warning.

Make sure all bundles with version codes specified at warnings are listed as inactive at app bundle explorer for that app.

 

What appends if only the old alpha/beta builds generate these errors?
The app could be removed from Google Play? I think not.

 

I think is better to get rid of all the old versions in all tracks.

 

Is there a quick way to check if a bundle is safe from this problem?

 

You should add this package to your project. that will fix the problem
com.unity.services.analytics": "4.0.1"

 

sure?

 

It worked for me on the first try, but all following updates showed the same message! =(

 

I can confirm that removing (by uploading a new version) the old internal track versions doesn't work, any subsequent updates still show the warning message.

 

Google were definitely quite 'chatty' with their non-compliant SDK messages for a while.

FWIW... I ran two builds through the internal test track (with a compliant SDK)... one beta, one production (which was then promoted). I also updated the Advertising Id privacy form in the App Content section. I finally paused the internal test track when the production build went live.

At some point Google stopped spamming me with these messages, but couldn't honestly tell you the exact circumstances as to why.

 

So far google has approved my games twice with always the same automated message. Both times I replied to them saying I still received the error message (with a screenshot). And they just keep telling me that they are approved... Going in circle here. They don't really seem to look at the email at all, just automatically approving the apps without reading the email. And I can guarantee that the version mentioned in the error message is deactivated (All tracks have a very recent app version and that app version is marked as deactivated in the app bundle explorer).

Not sure what else to do

 

So impressed about Google review team. Here is their answer:

Based on the notification email, it is regarding App Bundle Version: 40070000. However, you have deactivate the non compliant version and your app has been approved.

But I knew that already! This is what I told them!

Is it that hard to investigate the issue and tell the CAUSE of the issue not just the consequence

I also tried what PeachyPixels did, but no luck so far. Will keep trying different things

 

Are you targeting API 33 already?

 

That's a good question.

Just checked and one game (2D) is Minimum 6.0 the other game (3D) is Minimum 8.0 but both are Target Auto (Highest Installed)

So you would assumes yes as the answer, but honestly can't say for sure.

 

33 is Android 13 which in Beta right now. You might not be targeting it yet. But thanks. Trying to see what different you might have done to get the warning out.

 

So I looked back through my archived messages and there is nothing really obvious that stands out when comparing messages (and dates) to the test flight & production builds.

I did notice that updating one app produced the Advertising Id declaration message for the other.

I received some Non-Compliant SDK messages for the game in question (even after the Unity Ads 4.2.1 build was submitted to test flight, cancelling out the Unity Ads 3.7.5 build) but they stopped after the production build went live.

For reference I have no closed or open flights, only internal & production.

Maybe there are some remnants on Unity Ads 3.7.5 left in the build. I've seen people raise this before with Unity.

I use Unity Cloud Build (doing a clean build) so maybe that helped. Have you tried purging older packages from the AppData\Local\Unity\cache\packages\packages.unity.com folder? Maybe it's still referenced in one of the project files.

If anything else comes to mind, I'll post again.

 

I'm so stuck I don't know what to do!

I removed the advertisements package COMPLETELY from my app, I'm uploading this new build and I'm marking the previous App Bundle that had ads as "NOT INCLUDED".

But the error remains, it keeps complaining that the OLDER build has this issue, and that I need to upload a new one that doesn't and make the old one "INACTIVE"

How the heck do I make it inactive?, I have no idea other than not including it on the new release!. I'm not making use of ANY test tracks, just production.

Anyone help?

 

For me the strange thing is that the error appeared after a month from publishing!

Now if I publish a new version I don’t get any error (for the moment) but I’m scared that the error can rise after several days or weeks… (it’s crazy, I know).

Do you get the error immediately after uploading the bundle?

 

I get the error message on the review step when trying to upload a new build. I only received an email once for each of my games on June 29th.

 

Yo, guys I opened up a ticket and they did something on the backend that let me rollout to production.

It's a bug on their end for sure

 

If this is a bug they need to fix it for everyone

 

So I got the final answer from the app review team at Google. Their answer is: "I would like to help but I can't. So bye." basically. I hope something is fixed somewhere eventually before October 1st...

 

crazy

 

I've just un-paused the internal test flight to see what happens. The last test flight was with Unity Ads 4.2.1 so in theory it should be ok.

I've a small update to release in a week, so will keep you updated on whether the message re-appears or not.

In the meantime, it might be worth checking all the latest bundles (in all flights) to see if they have the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission set.

 

It's a bug... I opened up a ticket for both the apps that had issues, I got no reply from the ticket but the button to rollout to production became available a few hours later.

 

https://docs.unity.com/ads/ImplementingBasicAdsUnity.html if you use unity ads 4.0.1+, You have to change your ad script. check the link.

 

Do you have the link where you submitted the bug? I will submit one too. Thanks

 

It's clearly a bug in Google's system. What's annoying is that there is no way to delete bundles and navigating the Play Console is confusing. I've replaced all test and production tracks with newer bundle, but they are in "review" mode and meanwhile the error persists. I expect once all of them are approved the errors go away. Waiting...

 

After multiple back and forths with the Google support team, I received an official answer. Here it is:

"After escalating this case to our Production team and Engineers, we have concluded that your releases are all good and there is nothing to worry about the notification that still pops out on your console. Our teams are working to resolve this ongoing bug and we do apologize for the inconvenience that it may have caused you.

For now, you can disregard the notification on your Play Console."

So you can sleep well now

 

lately, somehow things are becoming more complicated in the google play store and unity.
I'm about to give up, I have no idea
Your app includes non compliant SDK version
Your app com.aaa.aaa version code 5 includes SDK com.unity3d.ads:unity-ads

update my unity ads SDK, and the disaster there was a big major change in unity ads scripts.
updated android SDK, and bla bla.

Finally, I still got the same weird issue!

 

As mentioned by @ebouchard88 just above, there is a known bug in Google Console where it reports the error/warning on an older build (#5 in your case) although the newer build no longer has the ads SDK.

Hopefully they fix it soon and we can all prevent some white hair.

 

Do you guts still have this issue, mine suddenly disapperaed!!

 

Hello, I updated all the versions of my app on my Google Play Console
Public, Internal, Beta, Alpha, etc.
Now I don't have this message anymore.

 

Hooray! The problem resolved itself.

 

Mine just went inside "Archived Messages"

 

Like any google bug, they don't acknowledge it for months and then it suddenly (secretly) gets fixed...

 

Your "XXX" app (version code: 15) contains the "com.unity3d.ads:unity-ads" SDK or an SDK that one of your codebases relies on that collects personal or sensitive data, including But probably not limited to null identifiers. Per the User Data Policy, apps may not associate persistent device identifiers with other personal data, sensitive user data, or resettable device identifiers. As of midnight UTC January 11, 2023, new app versions may fail to publish if they include an SDK version and do not comply with the User Data Policy. You may consider upgrading the SDK to a compliant version without the offending code, if available, or removing the SDK from your app. Depending on your SDK provider, you may consider upgrading to 4.0.1 and/or contact your SDK provider to see if a suitable later version is available. Google cannot recommend or endorse any third-party software. Suggested action: Upload a new compliant version and deactivate the non-compliant version. Please read the User Data Policy carefully for more details, and learn how to submit an updated app for review here. If you have read the relevant policies and believe we may have made a mistake, please contact our policy support team.

The above is the notification received

Using the unity2021.3.11f1c1 version, the package manager did not add unity ads, but Google Play still received the rectification notice. Does anyone know how to deal with it? grateful!

 

I had the same problem. Did you solve it?

 

Same issue here with 4.4.1

 

What does this mean? I have no builds in Open, Closed or Internal testing. Where do I go in the console to deactivate a live build?

 

I also encountered the same problem. The version of Unity I am using is 2019.4.26f1. I have completely removed the unityads library from my app. However, the Google backend still reports this error. Do I need to upgrade the engine to solve this problem? Is the unityads library built-in to the Unity engine? Which version do I need to upgrade to in order to avoid this problem? I have been troubled by this problem for a while and hope that the official developers can give me timely help.thanks!

 

About this,how did you discover it? I`m not using Unity Ads too,but After complaining to Google officially,they explicitly replied to me that the Unity Ads SDK used by my app collects personal data and sensitive user data, including but not limited to advertising IDs; Android advertising identifier.So I'd like to ask how to check if Unity Ads references exist？

 

Our app ran into the problem in Feb 2023 with two things wired:

- 1 the ads packages was added in Dec 2022, the fail review came too late
- 2 The rejection email said as follows which did not tell us the exact SDK that caused the trouble.

Your app is using the Unity SDK which collects but may not be limited to Android ID and Advertising ID identifiers. Persistent device identifiers may not be linked to other personal and sensitive user data or resettable device identifiers.

You may consider moving to another SDK; removing this SDK; or if available from your SDK provider, upgrading to a policy-compliant version of this SDK that does not include the violating code.

According to the information provided by your SDK provider, you may consider upgrading to 4.0.1. Please consult the SDK provider for further information.

We made the GP review pass by doing the following things:

- remove com.unity.ads & com.unity.ads.ios-support in Packages/manifest.json
- build a new abb file and upload it to both internal test track & release track (we do not use open test track)

 

Same issue here. Our game keeps getting rejected even if we removed Unity Ads completely. Frustrating...

 

Same issue, even if we didn't use Unity Ads SDK.
Our game was rejected several times 2 weeks ago, until we created a new abb with Unity Ads SDK 4.4.1 and uploaded it to all tracks. Fortunately this abb wasn't rejected.
But when we need to update a new version today, this issue came up again. I am sure my abb contains Unity Ads SDK 4.4.1 and all tracks were uploaded with newest version.