Cannot remove App Privacy after removing AdMob and tracking

Question

Created May ’21

Replies 29

Boosts 2

Views 26k

Participants 35

I wanted to remove AdMob from my iOS app, so I remove all traces of AdMob, and make sure that info.plist does not have NSUserTrackingUsageDescription, no external framework used, and no traces of NSUserTrackingUsageDescription in my codes (global search in Xcode not found).

However, previous version has setup App Privacy in AppStore Connect.

Uploading a new build I can remove all entries in App Privacy except for one (?): Data Types - 1 data type collected from this app: Product Interaction

And I cannot remove this one: when selecting not collecting info, I got this error message:

Code Block Your app contains NSUserTrackingUsageDescription, indicating that you will request permission to track users. You must indicate which data types are tracking users. If this is incorrect, update your app binary and upload a new build to App Store Connect.

What shall I do? And what is this Product Interaction tracking? (The rest can all be reset to not tracking except this one.)

Boost

Answer 1

ZedHuang OP

Oct ’23

2023-10-20, Same here, I removed all the ads SDKs and NSUserTrackingUsageDescription from plist, but the review team kept reply that change which I can not change in connect.

I just submit a app appeal, hope to solve this loop

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Answer 2

ivanxe OP

Mar ’24

Same problem, March 2024.

I decided to remove Unity Ads and Analytics but the submission is rejected because "Apps need to receive the user’s permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework". Recommended action is to "update your app privacy information in App Store Connect". Cannot update the app privacy because of this: "Your app contains NSUserTrackingUsageDescription" (the new version does not).

It's a shame this vicious circle still exists after 2 years despite developers asking to remove it.

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Answer 3

jjjjjom OP

Mar ’24

March 2024 +1

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Answer 4

wmadao11 OP

Apr ’24

It is now 2024 and we are still experiencing this issue, here is my experience and resolution process, I hope this helps someone in need.

We removed the IDFA in the new app version, however were unable to change the privacy setting to not tracking in AppStoreConnect. we chose to leave it as it is for now and attempted to submit it for review, unsurprisingly the reviewer asked the same question as the OP, so we submitted the following response:

Hello, in this app version we removed everything related to AppTrackingTransparency including NSUserTrackingDescription. However, we can not update the app privacy information to "Not tracking users" in AppStoreConnect since it's related to the current app binary on the AppStore, not the one we are trying to update. Please approve this then we will be able to update the privacy information later.

The reviewer understood the issue and passed this review. However, we are still unable to change the settings in AppStoreConnect. When I change the privacy, an implicit error occurred, if I select Not tracking, the setting doesn't take effect and the page doesn't change.

We then submitted this issue to Apple Support and the support team said it had been referred to the appropriate department. After another week of waiting they replied that my issue had been fixed and I was finally able to edit my privacy settings properly.

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