Privacy-conscious users probably already know that Google has long allowed Android users to reset their advertising ID – our dedicated guide dates back to just over six years ago – and perhaps they also remember that since last year, starting with Android 12, the ability to remove it completely by opting out from the Ads Personalization has been introduced.
Advertising ID removal for all via Google Play Services
The aforementioned limitation of the novelty of Android 12 – given the still disappointing diffusion of this version of the robot – had heavily reduced its effective usefulness, but now the Mountain View team is preparing to overcome it: starting from April 2022, for As a result of a Google Play Services update, the new Ad ID removal option will be available to all users, regardless of whether or not their device is updated to Android 12.
The official Google support page specifies that starting from April 1, 2022, the update will affect all applications running on Android smartphones, tablets and Android TV devices with support for Google Play.
In short, the gradual implementation of the new Google Play Services that had begun at the end of 2021 by the apps installed on devices with Android 12 will be completed.
The same official page explains that the advertising ID will be removed when a user deactivates the personalization through the advertising ID in the Android Settings.
The path to follow is “ Settings> Google> Ads> Disable Ads Personalization “. As a result of this, every time a service attempts to access the identifier, a string of zeros will be shown instead of the identifier.
For developers and ad/analytics service providers
From the point of view of developers and providers of ad and/or analytics services, Big G has provided a system of « notifications relating to deactivation preferences, which will help them comply with regulations and user choice ». The notification system in question can be tested by interested parties after completing the form available at this link.
For essential non-ad use cases, such as analytics and fraud prevention, the Mountain View team encourages you to make use of the App Set ID.
On the same page, it is clarified, again with regard to developers, that in the manifest file of the apps whose target API level is updated to 31 (Android 12) a normal authorization of Google Play Services must be declared as follows:
<uses-permission android:name=”com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID”/>
As a result of the aforementioned update, therefore, the way in which applications must declare the permissions they require also changes. In this case, unfortunately, the limitation mentioned at the beginning still applies: at present, the novelty only applies to applications updated to support the Android 12 APIs.
Another important change concerns the applications also aimed at children, who will not be able to request this permission and therefore will not be authorized to take advantage of the Ad-ID. Here is what the Google support reports verbatim:
Some Google Play policies, such as the Family Policy, require apps not to use ad ID. If your app uses SDKs, such as the Google Mobile Ads SDK, that declare AD_ID permission in their library manifest files, you need to prevent merging the permission in your app by including the following item in the manifest file.
<uses-permission android:name=”com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID” tools:node=”remove”/>
This authorization will be applied to start from 1 April 2022 for all devices ».
In a previous article on Google’s privacy initiatives, we also mentioned the creation of the Google Kids Space; the one just described is certainly another step in the right direction. For more details, you can consult the API documentation at this link, the best practices for unique identifiers at this link and more details on the subject on this page.