Cannot remove App Privacy even after removing AdMob

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I wanted to remove AdMob from my iOS app, so I remove all traces of AdMob, and make sure that info.plist does not have NSUserTrackingUsageDescription, no external framework used, and no traces of NSUserTrackingUsageDescription in my codes (global search in Xcode not found).

However, previous version has setup App Privacy in AppStore Connect.

Uploading a new build I can remove all entries in App Privacy except for one (?): Data Types - 1 data type collected from this app: Product Interaction

And I cannot remove this one: when selecting not collecting info, I got this error message:

Your app contains NSUserTrackingUsageDescription, indicating that you will request permission to track users. You must indicate which data types are tracking users. If this is incorrect, update your app binary and upload a new build to App Store Connect.

What shall I do? And what is this Product Interaction tracking? (The rest can all be reset to not tracking except this one.)

admob app-store-connect app-store ios
1 Answers

Workaround: For anyone still experiencing this issue, I just wanted to share that I was able to overcome this by submitting an appeal to the App Review Board after my binary was rejected.

I received a response to my appeal two days later. They did not acknowledge the problem—rather, they simply stated that they would proceed with the review and that my binary would be approved shortly, while reminding me to update my App Privacy information prior to my next submission. A day later, my app update was approved and Ready for Sale.

I also submitted a bug report, in hopes that this will be properly fixed for others someday soon.

Feedback Assistant (bug reporting)

Background: The issue appears to be that the App Privacy page in App Store Connect is looking at the binary of your current release (the one live on the app store) to determine if you use NSUserTrackingUsageDescription. It's a Catch 22 where you can't remove "Advertising Data" from your App Privacy page until your new binary is accepted, but they won't accept a new binary until you remove "Advertising Data" from your App Privacy page.

There are two popular threads on the Apple Developer Forums with many users experiencing this same problem:

Can not update your app privacy information about tracking user https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/678920

Cannot remove App Privacy after removing AdMob and tracking https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/679585?login=true

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