You can't submit updates as some information about your app is incomplete (Google Play)

Question

Cannot update my app in Google Play since it says:

This release includes the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission but your declaration on Play Console says your app doesn't use advertising ID.

You must update your advertising ID declaration.

First thing is that the app not using ads.

The library which is injecting the permission is -> jetified-play-services-ads-identifier-18.0.0 but i don't know where it is coming from. Also to be sure that this permission(no matter what) is deleted, added in my app manifest:

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

But it is still saying that my app cannot be updated because it is containing that permission. I have checked the manifest via APK analyzer just to be sure, and it doesn't have the permission in the manifest file(i don't know why it is still saying that the permission is there)...

Also updated the Advertising Setting on Play Store:

But still the same is happening :(

UPDATE

Found where this permissions are coming from and disabed those modules:

implementation ("com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics-ktx:21.1.0") {
        exclude module: "play-services-ads-identifier"
        exclude module: "play-services-measurement"
        exclude module: "play-services-measurement-sdk"
        exclude module: "play-services-measurement-api"
    }

After that change the merged manifest doesn't contains anymore that permission also tested via APK Analyzer too but unfortunately Google Play still says that the app contains the permissions (WEIRD)...

Any help is appreciated :)

Floris

You can find your final permission in the merged manifest file at app/build/intermediates/manifests/full/debug/AndroidManifest.xml Have you checked? Actually, we were facing the same issue for the last 3 days. In our case tools:node="remove" did the job. You may get help from here or here. – Tortoni

i've add the tools:node="remove" but the issue still happened. any update on this issue? – Fake

@RumitPatel, i have done all the tests and other things but it is still happening. It is weird, maybe a bug in Google Play. Contacted the Play Store team too and waiting for a reply... – Floris

@Nazarudin, It is weird, maybe a bug in Google Play. Contacted the Play Store team too and waiting for a reply... – Floris

Also, i changed the Advertising ID to YES (I use the AD_ID for analytics purposes), trying to update the app again but it still doesn't works ! I don't know what to do more, will definitely wait for their support, i think it is a bug, – Floris

@EAKTEAM I have the exact same problem, and I have contacted the support. Did they reply to you? – Plantain

@Waxren, yes they replied and said that if you use analytics we need to choose YES on The AD_ID permission for analytics use case. You should not remove permission manually or remove analytics modules which contains AD_ID permission since it can break things... – Floris

While this question certainly shed some light on the root cause of the problem and a potential solution, our application cannot simply conform to declaring that we do indeed use ads for the sake of Firebase Analytics. We opted to get rid of such dependency instead of playing along Google's contradiction here. The Play Console had no complaints once we did that! – Dich

The UPDATE solution in the Question worked for me. It seems firebase analytics is adding the AD ID to the Merged Manifest – Antirachitic

Answer 1

After contacting Google Play support they replied and said that if you use analytics we need to choose YES on The AD_ID permission for an analytics use case on the Advertising ID section.

You should not remove permission manually or remove analytics sub-modules that contain AD_ID permission since it can break things...

So just need to choose YES even if the app is not using Ads.

Floris

Yes, so the problem with this, is that then they say, I said I don't have ads when I do (I still don't) . If I update to say I do have ads they say my app needs special declarations to make it suitable for under 13s. If I say my app is for only over 13s they warn me that if it looks wrong an under 13s might be attracted then I will get delisted. It's madness. – Decigram

Where I get Advertising ID section section ? – Cleanthes

@Decigram "Advertising Id" is a different section. No need to say the app has ads. Google work very hard to make the process as confusing as possible – Gaitskell

I had to specifically say the app has ads as it wouldn't let me submit otherwise. It's not logical. – Antonioantonius

But I'm seeing the error even if I remove all app bundles in the release. Is it expected? – Deaminate

Thanks for your information. But Google just doesn't make any sense! Why do I have to say YES even when I don't use Ads_ID. I had used tools:node="remove" and checked the merged manifest carefully. – Debut

One thing to note is that, once you do changes as said in above screenshot, even then you get an error that you must declare ad_id in your manifest, OTHERWISE YOUR ADVERSING PROVIDER WILL BE ZEROED OUT or something like that. As it says, since your app doesn't contain ads, you can safely ignore this message,and there is option to Ignore Adding permission. It will never cause an update rejection issue since you don't use ads. – Mathre

Can someone please report this as a bug to them so this gets fixed? I would like this to not be so broken at some point in the future as working with their ad IDs which I dont need to do is how their automated system often errors out and delists apps/accounts – Thanatos

Answer 2

Flutter Devs

If you're using the firebase_analytics package, the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission is automatically added to your app (source).

The solution is the same as mentioned in the accepted answer - Select yes and check the box next to "Analytics".

Zandra

Answer 3

The same problem happened with me. The solution was as following:

1-Firstly I have added this line to AndroidManifest.xml file:

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

2-Secondly I have disabled the Firebase Analytics AD ID collection by adding this line in the AndroidManifest.xml inside the application tag:

        <meta-data
        android:name="google_analytics_adid_collection_enabled"
        android:value="false" />

3-Then I went to the Google play console App Content -> Advertising ID -> Choose Yes and mark the Analytics option and check Turn off release errors check box.

4-After that I have rebuild the app, generated a new bundle and uploaded to the google play console but still when I submit it shows the same error then I have pressed Shift+F5 in chrome to reload the page without cache and then it worked and the error disappeared.

Plantain

After contacting Google Play support they replied and said that if you use analytics we need to choose YES on The AD_ID permission for analytics use case. You should not remove permission manually or remove analytics modules which contains AD_ID permission since it can break things... So this solution should not be used – Floris

If you the developer isn't actually using analytics, the answer cannot be to force them to declare it so. This is the only answer I found, other than stop using the guilty package/library. Analytics should all be opt-in not opt-out (or even worse, forced-in). – Dimercaprol

omg, don't remove AD_ID, you should declare that is used by Firebase Analytics – Three

Answer 4

If you're using @react-native-firebase/analytics you can disable the AD_ID permission by adding this to your firebase.json file:

{
  "google_analytics_adid_collection_enabled": false
}

https://rnfirebase.io/app/json-config#google_analytics_adid_collection_enabled

Olnay

Even after adding this, play store still asking for com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID – Wertz

Answer 5

Also, if xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" doesn't help

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.unity3d.player" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
  <uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID" tools:node="remove" />
  <application>
....

you should check all your tracks in google console! If one of track has a fix, but another track has old build without fix- you will have that error too.

From https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/thread/215752158/your-declaration-on-play-console-says-that-your-app-uses-advertising-id?hl=en

Otocyst

omg, don't remove AD_ID, you should declare that is used by Firebase Analytics – Three

Answer 6

If you use firebase-analytics you should answer the questions like the following:

does your app use Ad ID?: Yes

Collected: Yes

Shared: Yes

Processed ephemerally?: No

Required or Optional?: Optional(Given you implement consent/Opt-Out)

Note: firebase analytics can NOT work without Identifying the unique user, and they use Ad ID to do this.

Preemie

This answer is about Data safety section and not about new Advertising ID section. – Floris

Thank you @Jabbar, that was exactly the info I was searching for! The dialog has now changed and I just had to click to say the app uses Ad ID for Analytics and then my app went into review :-) – Motherofpearl

Answer 7

IT WORK WITH BOTH IF YOU INTEGRATE GOOGLE AD MOB IN YOUR FLUTTER THEN YOU NEED TO ADD THIS

AFTER THAT ALSO ADD THIS NOW RECREATE THE BUILD AND UPLOAD IT IF AGAIN GIVE ERROR THEN REMOVE THIS tools:node="remove FROM YOUR AND RECREATE THE BUILD THATS IT YOUR ERROR RESOLVE IF YOUR ISSUE RESOLVE.

Gwynethgwynne

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please edit to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Courage