Hey all
So I was in touch with Google play rep ( don’t ask me how I got there lol)
And I asked them million dollar question that that everyone wants to know. Is exit ads legal? You know what he told me, he said he was instructed specifically from Google as well as other support people not to answer anything related to ads policy. He seemed he knows the answer cause he said I wish I can tell you
So that leads me to the question, I use startapp in app only sdk(exit Ad and interstitial). Should I keep it or remove?
Does it have a separate “no-other-crap” SDK - or is it the same SDK ?
Because I doubt Google it testing if your code actually calls a certain method in their SDK - they probably ban according to the reputation of the SDK .jar file in your APK etc. (I’m guessing).
Well in startapp, you check the boxes of ad units you are interested in and that lead lead you to a specific sdk. I assume it does not have the other crap. May be @startapp can confirm?
Do they make an “anonymized” .jar file - or do their SDKs have speicific names like startapp_v6.jar etc.
My own sense that the use of anonymize .jar files (like “akljasdfasd.jar”) that Airpush pioneered and then even the staid Leadbolt jumped on the bandwagon (I don’t use the Leadbolt SDK - as I just use Leadbolt HTML AppWall which doesn’t require the SDK). And all the other ad networks which are more fishy may have also used that as a technique to evade antivirus etc. Some developers actually advocated for the use of that as a wonderful invention (since it would be harder for antivirus and Google to see that as an ad network .jar file).
HOWEVER, the use of such SDKs mean that it becomes harder for an ad network to get it’s name cleared from an antivirus company’s database - witness the difficulty Airpush has had getting it’s no-push SDK cleared. I had started to use Airpush SDK (plain interstitial/appwall) but it was giving issues with AVG Antivirus - and I quickly dropped it for that reason. I suspect having a jar file name that changes from developer to developer also doesn’t help Airpush get it’s name cleared (for example if it was Airpush_NoPush_JustAir.jar) - although I wonder HOW AVG Antivirus is able to determine that the apps using this type of Airpush .jar file are offending (this means they are unzipping the .jar file to search for methods ?). And an ad network which is making it difficult for them to find it’s presence will be a powerful indicator of fishy behavior by an ad network - and it will be harder to switch and suddenly be working to make the SDK EASIER to find by the antivirus company (if the SDK is Google-compliant etc.).