Apple rejected app due to showing advertisements

Hi all,

I've sent my App for kids to Apple for reviewing but it was rejected for publishing. The App includes advertisements (using the Crandberry Cordova Plugin for AdMob) and Apple indicates that the App should implement a "Parental Gate" to prevent children can click on the publicity and therefore they are allow to browse external content to the App (like websites or other ads content).

I know how to implement some "Parental Gate" or control mechanism to prevent this access by the kids: i.e. typical mathematical expression that only adults can solve. But my problem is a little bit different, I would need to know how to detect when the user (kid) have clicked on the Ads and so show them the "Parental Gate" and depending on the response (right or wrong) allowing or avoiding the access to the content of the advertisement.

Step-by-step sequence:

1.- The kid click on the advertisement.

2.- The App show him/her the question with the mathematical problem ("parental gate")

3.- If a valid answer is entered, the access to the advertisement is allowed. Otherwise, the app blocks the access to the advertisement, it is not shown and the app returns to the previous screen before clicking the ads.

Could anyone provide me any idea on how to implement this?

Do you Ashley / cranberry have any idea how to manage this?

Thanks so much!

I think it would be better just to ascertain if the user is an adult before showing any ads.

You have to read into the jist of what they are saying, that being don't put ads in apps targeted to kids.

hi newt,

Thanks for answering.

Apple is asking me to implment a "Parental Gate", not avoid ads in Apps for Kids. That policy wouldn't make sense. The requeriment is that the advertisements must be suitable for kids.

The whole text provided by Apple is:

"You have selected the Kids Category for your app, but it includes links out of the app or engages in commerce without first obtaining parental permission. Specifically, your app includes advertisements that, when tapped, take the user to a web page or the App Store.

Please update your app to incorporate a parental gate before the user can leave the app and ensure that the parental gate cannot be disabled. "

As far as I understand, only a "parental gate" is required to prevent access to external content by kids.

No one is going to make ads that can't be clicked.

The main point is if there is any way to catch the user clic over the ads and allowing or blocking that the App shows the content of the ads

My point is: why show ads to kids, especially if they can't click them?

I have kids and they sometimes want to see advertisements about the new animation movie for kids, toys based on animated cartoon or other mobile games designed specially for them. This action always should be previously approved by their parents with a "parental gate" to avoid they can see non adequate content.

Is this so weird...?

It's not even an ad issue. We have a kids app that links to our own site for the Help page, teaching how to use the app. We were asked to add a Parental Gate also. Just keep a LocalStorage value indicating if you've shown the gate or not. On any ad click, check that value first and either bring up the gate, or just show the ad. This is what we did, and our app passed.

Thanks a lot blackhornet!!

We had the same requeriments as you also with links to own sites.

As far as I understand, You show the gate once in the App at the beginning and from that point, depending on the response of the user, the rest of session, you'll show or not the advertisements. I mean, once ads are approved by the parents, ads will be shown all the time until the next execution of the App.

Is this right?

It's strictly a one-shot issue. Once the gate has passed, you never show it again.

Understood.

Just one doubt we still have, in C2 when the user click on an advertisement based on the Admob standard plugin, the content of the advertisement is opened inmediatelly and no condition can be put to between click and opening advertisement to control whether can be opened or not.

For a "normal" url with our own promotion there is no problem.

For ads, I think that the gate should be shown to the user before they click over any advertisement but in case they don't pass the gate, no ads will be shown at all from that moment.