My app was just rejected for using the Ad support framework. Which library is responsible?

Question

This was simply an update that didn\'t change anything to do with the rejection reason. Here is the response from the resolution center:

Reasons Pro

Answer 1

I'd previously written the following in comments, directing people to the "strings" or "otool" terminal commands. However, I really like the suggested answer of using grep. So you can try it first. My suggestion is to prepend "git" to that command, because it's so much faster:

git grep advertisingIdentifier

If that doesn't work, then try (as posted earlier):

grep -r advertisingIdentifier . 

What follows is what I'd previously written in a comment above, as a how-to for terminal commands:

You can search your project's files in Xcode or you can try removing the AdSupport framework to see what fails at build/run time.

To use the terminal, click Spotlight (search) and type Terminal. Wait for it to appear as an Application in the search results.

Once in Terminal, type "cd" followed by a space, then drag and drop your Xcode build folder from Finder into Terminal. This should automatically type that folder name in. Hit Enter, and it will change directories (cd) you to that folder.

From there, type strings then a space, then the filename for your library or otool, a space and the filename for library. You should be able to hit TAB to auto-complete filenames.

Answer 2

Flurry Analytics uses this API as well.
Terminal output:

Binary file ./Lib/Flurry/libFlurry_4.3.0.a matches

Flurry says that the selector is not called if AdSupport framework isn't linked.
So I removed the framework and tried submitting again.

Answer 3

Update

Google released Google Analytics Services iOS SDK v3.03c which removes the AdSupport.framework dependency by default.

Full changelog entry for Release Version 3.03c (February 19, 2014): https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ios/changelog

Old Awnser

My problem was with Google Analytics and TestFlight.

For TestFlight I just update the library to the version 2.2.1 (https://www.testflightapp.com/sdk/ios/release_notes/2.2.1/).

But for updating Google Analytics I had to remove the -ObjC flag. But as I use Cocoapods to manage some of third libraries, I couldn't just remove it. So I did the follow:

1 - started updating the libGoogleAnalytics.a to Version 3.03a (February 5, 2014)

2 - then a removed also the AdSupport.framework

3 - added "-force_load\ "${PROJECT_DIR}/Source/Library/GoogleAnalyticsServicesiOS_3.03a"" under "Target --> Build Settings --> Other Linker Flags" (Note that in my project the GoogleAnalytics is inside /Source/Library/ folder, and you have to configure your own)

But as I coudn't remove -ObjC flag I searched for how to use -force_load flag with Cocoapods, then I found two useful links:

1 - https://github.com/CocoaPods/CocoaPods/issues/712

2 - http://www.deanmao.com/2012/12/31/linker-error-using-cocoapods/

To summarize I changed the -ObjC flag for "-force_load $(TARGET_BUILD_DIR)/libPods.a" also under "Target --> Build Settings --> Other Linker Flags"

But again, when I tried to publish my app I got an error telling me that the compiler didn't find libPods.a, so I went to "Target --> Build Settings --> Other Linker Flags --> Release" and change this string $(TARGET_BUILD_DIR) to ${BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR}.

So my Other Linker Flags became like the image below.

Hope to help somebody.

Sorry for my english. =]

Answer 4

Crashlytics was the problem. We had a few apps rejected because of it. But I already talked with Crashlytics and they released a new update today (version 2.1.6) which fix this issue.

Several libraries have the AdSupport.framework but they do not use it unless specifically called. Crashlytics was calling the framework because it had to check if the app had support for ads. And that change was implemented on version 2.1.5

So if you are using crashlytics, that's the most probable reason. To fix that, just re-archive your app so crashlytics can use the new version with this fix.

Response from Crashlytics Team: "We just pushed out an update for this- can you build and run your app again with the Mac app open so it can update your SDK? You'll be all good to go after that! Keep me posted after you resubmit :)"

PS: This is starting to happen because Apple seem to have changed their policy for ADSupport usage.

Answer 5

This is a bit more complicated than it seems on the surface. After some experimentation I found that the AdSupport Framework is linked even if only directly accessing classes that are referenced in the AdSupport Framework. Ironically, [AsIdentifierManager class], which is used in a lot of third-party libraries to check whether or not the AdSupport Framework has been linked, will actually cause the AdSupport Framework to be linked. Obfuscating the class by using NSClassFromString(@"AsIdentfierManager") will not cause the AdSupport framework to be automatically linked. Of course, most of the time this code will be in third-party libraries so you won't have much control over it, however, this is what's going on.

I built an example project on GitHub that illustrates this behavior using Segment.io's framework. https://github.com/distefam/AdSupportDemo

Answer 6

My app was also rejected with the same error! I found an occurrence of advertisingIdentifier in the latest Facebook SDK (3.12). Maybe you can check your library's for an occurence with the method below:

I opened the FacebookSDK.framework as a library in the terminal and typed the following command

otool -v -s __TEXT __objc_methname FacebookSDK | grep advertisingIdentifier

But I don't know what to do. Was my app rejected because of this reference? If yes what to do if I want to use facebook functionalities in my app?