Google has finally rolled out an update for its AdMob SDK for iOS (version 6.4.0) that will deprecate an access to Unique Device Identifiers (UDID), just 3 weeks before Apple Inc. hard deadline of rejecting those applications that are still utilizing UDID to keep a track of app’s advertising performance and usage.
For those who are not aware of Unique Device Identifiers, all mobile devices have a UDID, which is being utilized as an identifier by those advertisers & app developers seeking highly detailed data to be used for ad-targeting and to keep a track of unique users. But UDID became a security risk as identifiers sometimes stick to the delicate private information. Apple had been warning from past one year that it would end support for UDIDs and the company set a hard deadline last month finally.
Apart from UDID changes, Google has also fixed the number of bugs and included some enhancements in the version 6.40 of the Google AdMob SDK as well. You can find the release notes below:
Today we’re releasing version 6.4.0 of the Google AdMob SDK for iOS developers. In addition to the maintenance and bug fixes listed below, this version of the SDK completes the transition away from UDID, which began with version 6.2, in compliance with relevant Apple policies.
• There are a number of maintenance updates and bug fixes including:
• No longer accesses the UDID
• Fix for GADInterstitial crash that occurs when app is running in the background
• Fix for GADMRAID Interceptor threading crash
• Renaming symbols to prevent duplicate symbol errors
• Support for receiving test ads when using AdMob through mediation
• Test ads are only available on devices running iOS 6 and above
Admob started moving away from UDIDs last year with the roll out of SDK version 6.2, but it didn’t set a final deadline to switch until the latest version 6.4 is released.
It has been reported earlier that Apple Inc. tried to overtake AdMob(a leader in mobile advertising) before Google succeed in snatching it up three years ago for $750 million. The iPad and iPhone manufacturer ended up in buying Quattro wireless(the biggest competitor of Admob) to develop its iAds platform..
