Advertising ID

The advertising ID is a unique, user-resettable, and user-deletable ID for advertising, provided by Google Play services. It gives users better controls and provides developers with a simple, standard system to continue to monetize their apps. It enables users to reset or delete their identifier.

Google Play services update in 2021

As part of Google Play services update in late 2021, the advertising ID will be removed when a user deletes their advertising ID in Android Settings. Any attempts to access the identifier will receive a string of zeros instead of the identifier.

This Google Play services phased rollout will affect apps running on Android 12 starting late 2021 and will expand to affect apps running on all devices that support Google Play starting April 1, 2022. For essential non ads use-cases such as analytics and fraud prevention, use App Set ID.

Additionally, when apps update their target to Android 13 or above will need to declare a Google Play services normal permission in the manifest file as follows:

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

Some SDKs, such as the Google Mobile Ads SDK (play-services-ads) may already declare this permission in the SDK’s library manifest. If your app uses these SDKs as dependencies, the AD_ID permission from the SDK’s library manifest will be merged with your app’s main manifest by default, even if you don’t explicitly declare the permission in your app’s main manifest. Learn more about merging manifest files on the Android Developers site.

This permission will be enforced starting from April 1, 2022 for all devices. See API documentation for more details.

Learn more about best practices for unique identifiers.

Get the advertising ID

To get the advertising ID in your apps, you can use the Advertising ID API.

Policy requirements

The Google Play Developer Program Policy requires that all updates and new apps uploaded to Google Play use the advertising ID (when available on a device) in place of any other device identifiers for any advertising purposes. You're responsible for ensuring that your apps are in compliance with policies regarding its usage, as well as all Play policies.

Apps using a persistent ID other than the advertising ID may receive a policy violation warning via the publisher site or the email address used to register the account. If you receive a warning, you should ensure that any published APKs comply with the advertising ID related guidance in the Developer Program Policy. If you are using a third-party ad SDK, please contact the SDK maker to obtain a new version that complies with this new policy.

Additional details

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