I am developing my first mobile application and hope to submit it to Apple soon for approval.
I have incorporated iAd banners and interstitials in my app.
But I am confused about the future of iAds and it's application to app publishers/developers.
Apple announced (Jan 15, 2016):
iAd App Network will be Discontinued
The iAd App Network will be discontinued as of June 30, 2016. Although
we are no longer accepting new apps into the network, advertising
campaigns may continue to run and you can still earn advertising
revenue until June 30. If you’d like to continue promoting your apps
through iAd until then, you can create a campaign using iAd Workbench.
We will continue to keep you updated, but if you have any questions,
contact us.
Which seems pretty plain and simple - no more iAd integration for new apps that are not currently in the iAd program.
Other new sources (unofficial to Apple themselves) quote the development as a good thing for mobile developers in general. Although exactly how this is good for mobile app developers escapes me.
Add the fact that there are still so many active questions, answers and dialogues at StackOverflow surrounding iAds and their implementation in apps currently under development.
If iAds is closing down, why are people still integrating them into their current projects (for apps not yet released)?
Can anyone please explain this to me?
I emailed Apple iAd support last week.
This is the response I got today:
Hi XXX,
Thanks for your interest. After June 30th, the iAd app network will
no longer be available to help monetize your app. No new apps will
be accepted into the network if you are not live already. We have
campaigns live within our network up until that date. You should
connect with another provider as an alternative to iAd. Workbench
will still be available to promote your app. Thanks for being a part
of our network.
Please go to our developer site to get the latest news regarding iAd
here
Best,
Louis
Note the specific line :
You should connect with another provider as an alternative to iAd.
So, for all new apps that have not already been submitted to the App Store and approved by Apple, you cannot use any iAds.
Search and you will find. Apparently they are just shutting down the part that is called "iAd App Network".
Quote from the link below:
The iAd program as a whole is not shutting down. What is
happening, is that the similarly-named iAd App Network, which allows
developers to advertise their own apps through iAds, is going away.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/15/apple-iad-shutdown-june-30th/
Related
For a while now I have had an app on the app store. I decided to try to add support for the Apple iAd Network in a recent update. It has been live for over a month now (at first I thought time would fix it) but I have come to the realisation that the app is still not making any money off of the ad revenue. Currently all my apps are free to download but I need to allow ads to keep them that way.
I am testing ads using this app because it is not my most popular app but if I can get them to work then I will look to update my other apps to support iAds in the future as well.
I cannot see if my live app is making ad requests because I get this error in the iAd Network part of iTunes Connect:
The status of this app is Ready for Sale. Below is a screenshot of my app to demonstrate that the iAd banner has been implemented correctly in Xcode to the best of my knowledge.
So my question is why is iAd not making me any money from ad revenue as I would expect it to? Have I done something wrong or is the problem with Apple?
UPDATE
I have now made and published another app with iAds successfully implemented but I still have no ads on this one!
Could it be due to a lack of popularity?
Some of the issues you are facing could be occurring since you haven't setup the contracts for iAds in itunes connect. Also, this may be unrelated, but when no ad loads, is the banner view visible?
Answer
The reason was simply that Apple has delays in processing at their end. I still don't know why one of my apps took so much longer than the other, however it was just a matter of time until the revenue started showing up as I had implemented everything correctly in Xcode.
Advise
Make sure you follow the official Apple guidelines, make sure to use the proper iAd banner and show it all the time (it will hide automatically when it needs to). Don't forget to setup all your information properly on iTunes connect either, although Apple makes it quite clear in their documentation what needs to be done there.
Be patient! Apple takes time to process these things.
So I submitted my app last week and it was approved 2 days ago. I have iAd impleted in the app. As soon as the app was "ready for sale" I downloaded it from the App Store. When I launched the app everything worked. iAd was displaying ads on the screen. But then about 10 minutes later the ads stopped. It's been 2 days since the ads stopped and they still aren't showing up. I have even tried redownloading the app from the store several times. And it's not just me. It's happening to everyone who downloads the app. I'm sure I just need to contact Apple however it's the weekend and I just want to know as soon as possible, has anyone else had this problem? Or is it even a problem? I've read other questions asking similar things, however I believe mine may be different seeing as the ads displayed for the first 10 minutes. Also! When I go to iAds on iTunes Connect, it says "AD Status: live ads" and it's lit up green. Also in iAds it says "recieving live ads"
The app is free and if you'd like to see for yourself here is a link to the app: https://appsto.re/us/FB4u5.i
Other Information:
The app is an arcade game
Ages 4+
iAd works perfectly in the Xcode version of the app
I have tried the game on different wifi routers and on 4g to see if there was some connection issue
The ads that are meant to be displayed are banner ads at the bottom of the screen
I have an answer! I just contacted apple iAd support and its is very clear now as to why I haven't been seeing ads the past few days. Some people stated in the comments that even once your app has been approved and is ready for sale, the iAd has its own separate reviewing process, and this is exactly true. However, I revieved some extra information from the support team that should be able to clear things up without confusion for anyone having this problem in the future. First of all, while Apple may review apps on the weekend, the iAd team does not, my app was approved on Friday and this is why I haven't seen any ads all weekend. Second, even if your ad status in the iAd network is green and says "live: recieving live ads" this does not mean that iAd has reviewed your app yet, it simply means that you have done everything required on your end. Lastly, I was told that the separate iAd reviewing process usually takes two to three business days. I hope that this information will help others in the future not to be concerned if they are experiencing this behavior.
I had exactly the same problem after updating my app. The ads were not displayed for about 2-3 days. After writing to Apple the problem was magically solved. I event did not get any answer from them.
I heard that Apple has an independent review process for iAds, maybe this could be the reason?
Have you tried contacting Apple's iAd support about this? I've experienced similar problems in the past and contacting them cleared it up. I've read other solutions where issuing an update to the application fixed the problem also. iAd has to approve your app to receive ads even after your app has been accepted and made available for download. Perhaps they just over looked yours.
So this may be a dumb question but I'm a bit confused and wanted get some of your opinions. An app I created just went live in the app store on Friday night (1/9). I developed the app to use iAds but believe I have it setup incorrectly. No ads are being displayed (though it seems like it attempts to) and while the apple website states "live ads" I see 0 requests.
I'm freaking out a bit as people have downloaded the app. That being said I read that it may take a few days for iAds to kick in once the app is approved. At this point its only been 2 days. I also went back into Xcode to check my app and now think I may have an issue with the version up on the app store. When I went back in I realized that the iAd framework was not listed under the general tab --> linked frameworks or the build phases --> link binary with library areas. I'm using swift and my view controller does import iAd. I can also see the test ads in the simulator. Is it possible that my app did not include the framework and thus it is now not working in the App Store? Would the test ads work on the simulator if this was the case (test ads have always worked even before I added in the frameworks)?
I have since added in this framework but am wondering if I should now resubmit a new version to the App Store. What do you think?
If you're seeing test ads in the Simulator, the app side should be set up correctly. You shouldn't need the iAd framework to be listed in "Linked Frameworks and Libraries" if you have imported it in your view controller because it is a framework provided by Apple (you won't see UIKit or Foundation in there, for instance).
What may be the problem (and this is just a possibility) is that, while your app has been approved by the App Store Review Board, it may not have been approved for ads yet. If you log into the iAd site, you should see a message like this under "Messages":
When you submit your app, [app name], for approval, it will also be reviewed by iAd for use on the App Network to determine its appropriateness for receiving ads from iAd advertisers. Once your app is approved, you will be ready to start earning revenue for ads that run in your app.
I wouldn't think that it would say "Live Ads" if it hasn't been approved yet, but I could be wrong; this is the only possibility that I could think of, however. Your users also may be in countries where iAd is not supported (although this is unlikely).
I recently released my first app on the app store (August 5, 2014 release). When I was testing the app the test iAds seemed to never go away. Now, the actual app available on the app store isn't displaying any ads. I have read similar question, where iAds didn't work at first, but everyone says they started working after a little bit. However, mine seems unique in that it made six impressions right after it was first downloaded (6 requests, 6 impressions), but it hasn't done anything since. Is this a programming error and that's why my requests are low, or is this common for iAds on new apps?
Thanks. Oh, and I added ads using the method shown in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5XcVnHCQ0w The app uses Sprite Kit and was designed for iOS 7.0. There is only one view controller and it only displays banner ads. The app also uses Game Center if that is of any importance.
iAd takes a few days to look at new apps and then approves those for the iAd network. It is normal that you will have to wait a little bit.
One week ago I had version 2 of my app approved and released to AppStore. No iAd's were showing then, and they haven't come since. A lot of rather old posts have users saying that they usually appear rather suddenly, and after about 3-4 days time. So do people on here have some up to date experience with this?
Also I'm thinking it could be that no advertisers have content that suits my app, but in that case: is there anyone who holds information about what happens in that case - i.e. do you get a message from Apple?
Additional: The app is strictly danish - where iAd has been up running for a long time. I have contacted apple support, only to get the answer that I needed to implement iAd into my app(which of course I had done!) and was then referred to another division from which I haven't heard back after now most of a weeks time.
I had the same problem with iAd banners in an app. Although I had followed all of the programming steps to show iAds in my app, and they showed properly in the simulator, I hadn't enabled them in iTunes Connect before uploading my app.
Instructions for this are in Apple's developer guide.