Google Play and Android recently announced several new policy updates and technical changes. Review the following recommendations to ensure your app stays up to date and in compliance.
Provide information for Google Play's Data safety section
In May 2021, Google Play announced the new Data safety section, a developer-provided disclosure of apps' user data collection, sharing, and security practices.
You’ll soon be required to tell Google Play about your apps' privacy and security practices by completing a form in Play Console. Later, this information will be shown on your store listing to help Google Play users understand how you collect and share user data before they download your app.
Learn more about Google Play’s Data safety section and how to prepare for Google Play's data disclosure requirements.
Update to the SDK with support for the new app set ID
Starting with Android 12 devices, Google Play will remove the advertising ID when a user opts out of personalization in their Android Settings. This change will be applied to other versions of Android phones, tablets, and Android TV starting April 1, 2022.
Google Play has also introduced app set ID, which offers a privacy-friendly way to correlate usage or actions across a set of apps owned by the same organization.
To support reporting and fraud prevention on opt-ed out users, we recommend updating to the Google Mobile Ads (GMA) SDK version 20.5.0+ or Interactive Media Ads (IMA) SDK 3.25.1+, which includes support for the new app set ID.
Update your app for advertising ID permissions
Apps updating their target to Android 13 will need to declare a Google Play services normal permission in the Android manifest file in order to use the advertising ID. For apps that do not declare this permission and target Android 13, the advertising ID will automatically be removed and replaced with a string of zeros.
You can update your app to GMA SDK 20.4.0+ or IMA SDK 3.25.1+, which will automatically have the permission declared. If you’re using GMA SDK 20.4.0+ or IMA SDK 3.25.1+, , no further action is required to continue using the advertising ID.
To learn more about the new permission, including how to disable it, refer to the Play Console Help Center.
Review updates to the Google Play Families policy
Google Play announced updates to the Families Policy Requirements. If one of the target audiences for your app is children, your app must not transmit certain identifiers (including the advertising ID) for children or users of unknown age.
If your app has a target audience that includes children, we recommend updating to:
- Android 20.6.0 GMA SDK or later
- iOS GMA SDK 7.67.0 or later
- IMA SDK 3.25.1 or later
- Programmatic Access Libraries (PAL) SDK 18.0.0 or later
These SDK updates ensure that the advertising ID is not transmitted when an ad request is tagged for child-directed treatment through tagForChildDirected (TFCD) or tagForUnderAgeOfConsent (TFUA).
If your app has a mixed audience, you may need to implement a neutral age screen in order to differentiate between children and adults. We will be launching a neutral age screen message as part of Ad Manager's Privacy & messaging tool in early 2022.
