Mobile App Publisher Setup: Ad and Analytics SDKs by Region

This guide is for mobile app publishers. It sets up the UniConsent app SDK with the ad, analytics and attribution SDKs most apps use, so that each SDK gets the consent signal it needs in Europe and in the other regions where you have users.

Time needed: about 1 to 2 hours: about 10 minutes for Step 1, 20 to 30 minutes to add the SDK in Step 2, 5 to 15 minutes for each SDK in Step 4, and about 30 minutes to test and check in Steps 6 and 7. Changes you publish in the dashboard reach the app the next time it loads the consent screen.

Who does what: Steps 1 and 3 are done in your UniConsent dashboard. Steps 2, 4 and 5 change your app's code, so your app developer will do those. Steps 6 and 7 are done on a test device.

Step 1: Create Your App Project

In your dashboard, create an app project and copy its App ID. The app project uses IAB TCF in Europe: Google requires a Google-certified CMP that uses IAB TCF for ads served in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and UniConsent is a Google-certified CMP, Gold tier.

Then turn on the policies for your other regions: CCPA and US State Privacy for the US, and IAB TCF Canada for Canada. Turn on IAB GPP as well, so ad SDKs receive the US and Canada choices.

Step 2: Add the UniConsent SDK

Add the UniConsent SDK for your platform: Android, iOS, Flutter, React Native. Start it with your App ID when the app launches, before your ad and analytics SDKs, and let it show the consent screen when consent is needed. Each SDK guide shows how.

Step 3: What Each Region Gets

Europe covers the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, Serbia and Ukraine.

In the United Kingdom, the UK GDPR and the ICO's guidance require consent before non-essential storage and tracking, in apps as on websites, so keep the UK in your Europe region.

If you turn off the policy for a region, users from that region are treated as if no CMP were installed: no consent screen appears, and no SDK is held back.

In the US, California is covered by CCPA / CPRA, and Virginia, Colorado, Utah, Connecticut, Florida, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky and Rhode Island by US State Privacy. Users can opt out of the sale and sharing of their data and of targeted advertising, and the choice is passed to ad SDKs in IAB GPP and, for California, the US Privacy string. See US State Privacy Setup.

Step 4: Integrate Your SDKs

Ad SDKs and Firebase read the user's choice themselves, from the standard IAB keys the UniConsent SDK stores on the device, so you do not need to hold them back yourself. Start requesting ads once the user's choice is known.

Step 5: Add Privacy Settings to Your App

Users must be able to change their choice at any time, and US users opt out from here. Add a Privacy Settings item to your app's settings screen that opens the UniConsent screen. Your platform guide shows how to open a specific screen, for example the settings: Android, iOS, Flutter, React Native.

Step 6: Test Each Region

Set a test region in your app to see the screens of another region, then repeat with CA (Canada), CAQC (Quebec), USCA (California), USTX (Texas) and N (outside these regions):

// for testing only: remove it in release builds
UniConsent.getInstance().setTestRegion("EU");

The UniConsent demo apps have a test region picker. Remove the test region before you release your app.

Step 7: Confirm Your SDKs Follow the Choice

Do each check on a fresh install, or after clearing the app's data, so that earlier choices do not carry over.

Check in Europe

1. With the test region EU, open the app. The consent screen appears at first launch, and ads load only after the choice.
2. Accept all. Close and reopen the app: the consent screen does not appear again, and ads load.
3. On a fresh install, reject all. Ads load as non-personalized or limited ads, where your ad partners support them.
4. Open Privacy Settings in your app, change your choice, and check that it is kept after you reopen the app.

Check in the United States

1. With the test region USCA, open the app. No consent screen appears, and ads load.
2. Open Privacy Settings, opt out, and reopen the app: the opt-out is kept.

For your developer

The UniConsent SDK stores the choice in the app's standard storage (SharedPreferences on Android, NSUserDefaults on iOS), where ad SDKs read it. Your developer can check these keys, or read them with the SDK's methods, for example getGPPString() and getUSPrivacyString():

IABTCF_TCString        IAB TCF choice (Europe)
IABGPP_HDR_GppString   IAB GPP string (US and Canada)
IABUSPrivacy_String    US Privacy string (California)

Common Mistakes

• Adding the CMP without integrating your SDKs. The consent screen appears, but ad, analytics or attribution SDKs that start before the choice is known, or that you set to consent in their own settings, ignore it. Integrate every SDK as in Step 4, and confirm it with Step 7.
• Not checking your vendors' reports after the release. A few days after the release, open the reports of your SDKs, for example AdMob or Ad Manager, your mediation platform, Firebase and your attribution partner, and compare them with the days before. A drop in line with the share of users who decline is expected. A much larger drop, or data that stops, usually means an SDK is held back completely or does not receive the consent signal.

Still have questions?

Contact us: support@uniconsent.com