--- name: ads-mediation-checks description: Diagnose and verify ad mediation in a mobile app or game before and after store release - Google AdMob (Ad Inspector), AppLovin MAX (Mediation Debugger) and Unity LevelPlay / ironSource (validateIntegration) with their networks - app ids and ad unit ids, adapter versions, test devices, no-fill before launch, app-ads.txt on the developer website, SKAdNetwork ids, AdAttributionKit (ad network ids, postback copies, attribution windows; storebound ads scan), ATT, privacy manifests, consent, COPPA and Data safety / App Privacy answers. Use when ads do not load, a network reports invalid ids, the user adds an ad SDK, or prepares ads for launch. --- # Ad mediation checks (AdMob, AppLovin MAX, LevelPlay) CLI: `storebound ads scan --ios ` (AdAttributionKit / SKAdNetwork configuration, below), `storebound validate --play` (app-ads.txt) and `storebound privacy-manifest`; the rest are checks to run and read. Ask the owner before changing any dashboard setting. Most apps without ads can skip this skill. ## Every mediation platform 1. **Ids per platform**: iOS and Android have different app ids / keys and ad unit ids. Production ids only in release builds; test ids or registered test devices during development (real units with test traffic can get the account flagged). 2. **Debug tool on a test device**: every network listed with its adapter and SDK versions as a supported pair, test ads loading per format. 3. **No fill before launch is normal**: networks start filling once the app is live and its store URLs are set in the mediation dashboard. 4. **app-ads.txt** at the root of the developer website named in both listings (`https:///app-ads.txt`; IAB spec: https://github.com/InteractiveAdvertisingBureau/Supply-Chain-Validation/blob/main/app-ads.txt.md): the platform's own line plus each network's lines from the dashboard. Put them in `ads.appAdsTxt` so `storebound validate --play` checks the file. The listing website domain must match exactly (AdMob: the developer website; on iOS the marketing URL; verification can take a day, https://support.google.com/admob/answer/9363762). 5. **iOS**: SKAdNetwork ids of every network in Info.plist (from each network's list or generator), `NSUserTrackingUsageDescription` and the ATT prompt before the ad SDK starts, privacy manifests of every SDK (`storebound privacy-manifest --ios ios/App`, `privacy-manifest` skill). 6. **Android**: `com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID` and the Play advertising ID declaration; the AdMob app id in the manifest when any AdMob adapter is present (the app crashes at launch without it). 7. **Privacy and audience**: consent (CMP) in the EU / EEA / UK / CH or non-personalized ads; "not directed at children" unless the app is for kids (Families policy otherwise); Data safety and App Privacy list the ad data as shared / tracking (`store-declarations`). 8. **Placement**: no ads at launch, on exit or mid-task / mid-round; close buttons visible; rewarded ads always optional. Reviewers test the first minutes. ## AdAttributionKit and SKAdNetwork (iOS) `storebound ads scan --ios ios/App [--json]` (MCP: `ads_scan`; local, read-only, exit 1 on a blocker) reads the app's Info.plist (Pods, build output, tests and extensions left out), `Podfile.lock` / `Package.resolved` and the Swift / Objective-C sources. What it checks, with Apple's documentation (links in `cli/lib/adattribution.ts`): - **Publisher app** (shows ads): every network's ids in `SKAdNetworkItems` (dictionaries with `SKAdNetworkIdentifier`) and, for AdAttributionKit, in `AdNetworkIdentifiers` (array of strings). Apple: lowercase, "otherwise, the system doesn't recognize it as a valid network" (capital letters = blocker). `.skadnetwork` and `.adattributionkit` ids work for both frameworks, so the same list can go into both keys; ids only in `SKAdNetworkItems` are flagged for AdAttributionKit. Ad SDKs without any ids = blocker (installs from those ads cannot be attributed). - **Advertised app** (runs ad campaigns): copies of winning postbacks with `AttributionCopyEndpoint` ("AdAttributionKit - Postback Copy URL" in Xcode; storebound reads it inside an `AdAttributionKit` dictionary or at the top level), an https URL whose registrable domain gets POSTs at `/.well-known/appattribution/report-attribution/` (a path is ignored); re-engagement copies with `EligibleForAdAttributionKitReengagementPostbackCopies` = YES (needs the copy endpoint); SKAdNetwork copies (and Private Click Measurement) with `NSAdvertisingAttributionReportEndpoint`. The app must call `updateConversionValue` (AdAttributionKit) or `updatePostbackConversionValue` (SKAdNetwork) at least once, best at first launch, or an attribution SDK (AppsFlyer, Adjust, Branch, Singular, Kochava) must do it. - **Attribution rules**: `AdAttributionKitConfigurations` > `AttributionWindows` > `global` or an ad network id > `install` > `click` 1-30 days, `view` 1-7 days, `ignoreInteractionType` view | click (ad network entries only); `AttributionCooldown` > `install-cooldown-hours` / `re-engagement-cooldown-hours` 0-720. - AdAttributionKit and SKAdNetwork need **no ATT prompt**; keep `NSUserTrackingUsageDescription` only when the app really tracks across apps (store-declarations). Test attribution with Developer Mode and the postback testing in Settings > Developer (Apple: "Testing ad attributions with Developer Mode"); the scan only checks the configuration, not delivery. ## Google AdMob - Ad Inspector (SDK 20.0.0+, test devices only) shows each ad unit's mediation waterfall, adapter status and errors: https://developers.google.com/admob/android/ad-inspector (iOS: the same page under /admob/ios/). - Register test devices in the AdMob UI or in code; use Google's demo ad unit ids during development. ## AppLovin MAX - Mediation Debugger: `AppLovinSdk.getInstance(context).showMediationDebugger()` (iOS: the SDK's `showMediationDebugger`). It lists integration status per network, missing SKAdNetwork ids and the app-ads.txt entries; enable test mode per network under Completed Integrations > Test Ad, then restart the app. https://support.applovin.com/en/max/android/testing-networks/mediation-debugger/ - SKAdNetwork: AppLovin's Info.plist generator for the networks you use (https://support.applovin.com/en/max/ios/overview/skadnetwork). ## Unity LevelPlay (ironSource) 1. After init call the SDK's `validateIntegration()`; the device log (Xcode console, Android logcat tag `IntegrationHelper`) must list every network as "Adapter - Version x - VERIFIED". Adapter + network SDK versions must be a pair from Unity's adapter tables. 2. **Unity Ads "Invalid Game ID" / iOS "Initialization failed: not found"** is often account-side: compare `https://publisher-config.unityads.unity3d.com/games//configuration` for your id with Unity's demo id `14851`. If yours 404s or is empty, the Unity Ads project / game id is not set up or not linked to the LevelPlay app (Monetization > Projects, and the LevelPlay network setup with exactly those ids). 3. **509 "Mediation No fill"** before launch: the LevelPlay app is not live / not linked to store URLs yet. 4. app-ads.txt: `ironsrc.com, , DIRECT` plus the network lines from LevelPlay's app-ads.txt page (https://docs.unity.com/en-us/grow/programmatic/ironsource-exchange/app-ads-txt). ## Gotchas - A network failing to init does not break mediation; the others still fill once the app is live. - Adding a network can add Data safety / App Privacy data types and SKAdNetwork ids: update both before release.