Apple now rejects for Advertising Identifier

@AlexT

Just submitted IOS app for the 6th time and there latest rejection was due to Advertising Identifiers found in the source code but not being used anywhere in the app.  

My guess this may be part of the Facebook libraries but have not looked into this yet to see what Apple is talking about.

Below is there reason for rejection in the latest source code:

PLA 3.3.12

We found your app uses the iOS Advertising Identifier but does not include ad functionality. This does not comply with the terms of the iOS Developer Program License Agreement, as required by the App Store Review Guidelines.

Specifically, section 3.3.12 of the iOS Developer Program License Agreement states:

"You and Your Applications (and any third party with whom you have contracted to serve advertising) may use the Advertising Identifier, and any information obtained through the use of the Advertising Identifier, only for the purpose of serving advertising. If a user resets the Advertising Identifier, then You agree not to combine, correlate, link or otherwise associate, either directly or indirectly, the prior Advertising Identifier and any derived information with the reset Advertising Identifier."

Please check your code - including any third-party libraries - to remove any instances of:

class: ASIdentifierManager
selector: advertisingIdentifier
framework: AdSupport.framework

If you are planning to incorporate ads in a future version, please remove the Advertising Identifier from your app until you have included ad functionality.

To help locate the Advertising Identifier, use the “nm” tool. For information on the “nm” tool, open a terminal window and enter, “man nm.” 

If you do not have access to the libraries source, you may be able to search the compiled binary using the "strings" or "otool" command line tools. The "strings" tool lists the methods that the library calls, and "otool -ov" will list the Objective-C class structures and their defined methods. These techniques can help you narrow down where the problematic code resides.

18.2

Also, we found your app enables the display of user-generated content which may become sexually explicit. Therefore we ask that you put the following precautions in place, to ensure your app remains in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.

Specifically, the app allows users to flag the profile page. However, it may be necessary to implement a flagging button next to each photo post so the moderator can be accurately directed to objectionable content. 

- Use Moderators to flag and remove inappropriate content
- Require that your users agree to terms (EULA) and these terms must be clear that there's no tolerance for objectionable content
- Users need a way to flag or report objectionable content and users generating this content
- Developer must act on objectionable content reports within 24 hours by removing the content and ejecting the user who provided the offending content
- Developer needs a method for ejecting users who violate the terms of the EULA

A little more digging....

grep -r advertisingIdentifier .

Binary file ./FacebookSDK.framework/FacebookSDK matches

Binary file ./FacebookSDK.framework/Versions/A/FacebookSDK matches

Binary file ./FacebookSDK.framework/Versions/Current/FacebookSDK matches

Not sure if i can change the code in here or not.

Any idea on how to remove facebook altogether then ?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21574680/app-rejected-because-of-advertisingidentifier-in-facebook-sdk-and-flurry-sdk

thank you.  i'll give it a try and see what else they want to reject...   android app took 10 minutes to submit and was online in a few hours...   Apple almost a month now.

You should open a ticket in trac about that.

How did you manage to get it rejected 5 times?

The file they talk about is not included in the boonex mobile app source...  and i don't see why i should have to change any of that at the price point for the apps...

But thanks for pointing over to that post either way.

Why post here if you don't want to get help?

You could have just opened a ticket and filed this bug.

here is the next reason for rejection ....

Thank you for your prompt response and providing detailed information about your app. 

We understand that you have implemented various features to prevent objectionable content from appearing within the app. However, your app provides users the ability to share user-generated content, therefore, it may be necessary to implement a flagging tab next to each photo post to be in compliance with the Guidelines. Implementing a flagging tab next to potentially objectionable images provides the moderators with direct access the the inappropriate content for quick review and removal.

If you have any questions about the information provided, please let us know. We look forward to reviewing your revised application.

 I am posting here so others know a head of time what to aspect when submitting to apple and maybe to avoid some or all of there insane polices about apps in general. 

So in the end everything can be revised seeing apple only tells you one thing at a time..  meaning you fix one thing then they reject for another reason the you fix that then they come back with another ....   

If i add a ticket in trac i would have to send in many one after the other... 

If i add a ticket in trac i would have to send in many one after the other... 

Yea better not tell the one responsible with the provided instrument about a bug.

Pretty sure i have with this forum post...   but i could be wrong. 

I hate apple.

 I got thru this a couple times by telling Apple that all user-content is pre-moderated and doesn't appear on the app before approval from the admin side.

Also I've made a small mod to report abusive users. 

http://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/ticket/3373

I have to pick this topic up again, Apple is refusing all apps with AdSupport.framework and there's nothing we can do about it. AlexT, maybe you can offer some fast solution please before 1.9 will be released? 

Is it rejected automatically or after review process ?

It is rejected two times after review process. The AdSupport.framework seems used by Facebook, so just removing it cause multiple errors on compiling the app. Also seems like it's a new rule from Apple.

Message quote from Apple Resolution Center:

Reasons

• Program License Agreement

Thank you for contacting us.

We have verified that your app contains code that is accessing the Advertising Identifier, however, we did not see ads served in your app. As stated in section 3.3.12 of the iOS Developer Program License Agreement, an app must serve ads in order to use the Advertising Identifier:

“You and Your Applications (and any third party with whom you have contracted to serve advertising) may use the Advertising Identifier, and any information obtained through the use of the Advertising Identifier, only for the purpose of serving advertising. If a user resets the Advertising Identifier, then You agree not to combine, correlate, link or otherwise associate, either directly or indirectly, the prior Advertising Identifier and any derived information with the reset Advertising Identifier.” 

We have seen this behavior in apps that include third-party libraries. These libraries are often analytics engines, ad engines, or other types of third-party services.

We require that you locate and remove this code prior to resubmitting, and recommend that you use the "nm" tool or the command line tools "strings" or "otool -ov" to find the following entities:

- class: ASIdentifierManager
- selector: advertisingIdentifier
- framework: AdSupport.framework

If you are unable to locate these entities, you may wish to work with an Apple Developer Technical Supportengineer. 

If you believe your app is serving ads, please:

- ensure that you have tested your app on a device, not just the simulator, and that you have removed previous versions of your app prior to testing

- provide us the steps to locate ads in your app

Any updates on this? I am now unable to publish the app which was suppose to go live last month because of the issue mentioned by Boonexpert. No word on this from the developers? 

I've just tried to remove  AdSupport.framework, then cleaned and build the project without any problems, also it runs fine on emulator. It maybe there  are some checks in Facebook SDK if the AdSupport framework plugged in. (XCode 5.1.1, Dolphin Mobile app v.1.8.5)

This has been an issue for a while now, any news when the update will be released? We cannot continue to launch our app until this is fixed. This should be a priority as my mobile app and licence is pretty useless with out it.

Apple rejected my app for metadata, I know they only bring up one issue at a time.  So, my app is likely to be rejected for Advertising Identifier also? Basically I need to stop wasting my time with app submittal?