You may have heard that Apple are starting to reject apps that have the IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) embedded in the source code.
Maybe you are thinking this is the end of the reskinning, or life, and maybe the entire universe?
Well, I am here to say, its not time to panic. At least, not yet.
Firstly, what Apple are doing is rejecting apps that they feel are using this IDFA without actually displaying ads.
If you have an app that currently displays ads, then from what they are saying thats ok, even if those ad networks are using IDFA.
But where it gets tricky is in the case of apps using SDK’s, or frameworks from services that do not also provide ads.
Two examples are Tapstream and Flurry.
EDIT: Tapstream have contacted me (see comment below) and advise that collecting the IDFA is not done by default with their SDK – great news, thanks for the update!
Tapstream acknowledged the rejections and actually point out the SDK’s that are currently affected.
As you can see from the list, Flurry is also included there.
I found this post about Flurry where it seems to confirm they use it, but only if the AdSupport.framework is used.
Well, the thing is Flurry (I am talking to you), as you would well know, many of the major ad networks use it. As at the time of writing this blog post, AppLovin, Chartboost, RevMob, and Playhaven all use the AdSupport.framework.
No, its not time to panic 🙂 All you need to do for now, is not use Flurry or Tapstream, or any other SDK using the IDFA code with providing ads, until they fix it.
Its an easy fix for Flurry and TapStream, so I suspect they will issue and update to fix it. MixPanel (another provider already gives the option to disable it).
It also appears that TapJoy uses this, and just a heads up if you are submitting apps where the ads only show if a button is pressed (think incentivised video plays) you might possibly get a rejection from apple that will require you to confirm that in fact, ads are present, they only get shown when a button is pressed. Unlike a regular full screen ad or banner.
Bottom line: Nothing (much) to see here, please move along – Get your friendly developer to change those things in your app and if you are using Flurry or Tapstream write/ring and ask for the option to disable IDFA
Cheers
Tim
