Update your app for iOS 14+ - Google Ad Manager Help [gg-admanager-en]

IDFA

Update your app for iOS 14+

In June 2020, Apple announced an update to iOS 14 requiring apps to ask users for permission to access Apple's identifier for advertisers (IDFA) through a prompt called App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. We are sharing our recommendations for how you can update your app for iOS 14+ and help protect your ad revenue.

Keep your Google Mobile Ads (GMA) SDK and Interactive Media Ads (IMA) SDK up to date 

We encourage you to always keep your Google Mobile Ads (GMA) or Interactive Media Ads (IMA) SDK up to date in order to take advantage of the latest features and functionality. We regularly release new updates and features to improve performance. To update your app for iOS 14+, install the latest Google Mobile Ads SDK for iOS (version 7.64 or later).

If you use the IMA SDK, install:

• IMA iOS version 3.12.1 or later
• IMA tvOS version 4.3.2 or later 
• PAL iOS version 2.2.2 or later
• PAL tvOS version 2.2.2 or later   

Configure Apple's SKAdNetwork

Advertisers will be using Apple's SKAdNetwork to measure the performance of their ad campaigns and the value they get from advertising in your app. In order for advertisers to identify your app as a valuable source of their ads traffic you will need to configure SKAdNetwork with Google's Network key. Learn more about configuring the SKAdNetwork for mobile and video.

Decide whether Apple's ATT prompt is right for your app

As part of iOS 14, you may choose to employ the new ATT framework. We recommend you pay close attention to description text wording and run tests to find what works best for your app. 

Some developers may choose to show an explainer message that appears to users immediately before the ATT prompt with details about how user data is used and how users can opt in to personalized ads. If you choose to show an explainer message, you can use Privacy & messaging to manage your ATT permission and create an explainer message and/or EU user consent message that your users see just beforehand. Learn more about IDFA messages in Privacy & messaging.  

Please note that, for users in the European Economic Area along with the UK, Google's EU user consent policy continues to apply and should be taken into account in designing any message that precedes the ATT alert.

Safeguard your iOS advertising campaigns

If you also advertise with Google App campaigns, you can learn more about how to prepare for ATT enforcement.

About the SDK instance ID

With the latest versions of the GMA and IMA SDKs, a rotating SDK instance ID is automatically generated for each app to ensure effective delivery, display, and integrity of ads. The SDK Instance ID is unique for your apps and helps maximize your apps' ad performance.

About the same app key

Version 8.3.0 of the GMA SDK and and Version 3.14.5 of the IMA SDK introduced the same app key, an encrypted key that identifies a unique user within your apps. The same app key helps you deliver more relevant and personalized ads by using data collected from your apps. The same app key cannot be used to link user activity  from your apps to third-party apps.

The same app key is enabled by default, but you can always disable it in your SDK (GMA SDK or IMA SDK) or in your Ad Manager account. 

Your app users are able to opt-out of ads personalization based on the same app key through in-ad controls. Ads personalization using the same app key respects existing privacy settings, including NPA, RDP, and TFCD/TFUA.

Use key-value pairs to target based on IDFA availability

Well-targeted yield groups and pricing rules can help you test and optimize the performance of ad requests with and without IDFA. Create a key-value pair to target ad requests based on IDFA availability. Then, use that key-value pair in custom targeting when you create a new yield group or pricing rule.