Since apple doesn't allow ads with CoreLocation now, but ALL Ad sdks require Corelocation I believe, does this mean Apple has essentially killed the free app model? Has anyone found a work around for this?
Someone is testing a submission where they just turn the "Allow Location" BOOL to no automatically. If that works then it's an easy workaround. This subject is causing a lot of controversy because Google just bought AdMob not too long ago, and now Apple might be trying to sabotage this investment of theirs by restricting ads in new/updated apps. Just a thought.
I guess we won't know for sure until someone can confirm, but I would think that simply turning off location requests in Admob or whatever ad sdk you are using should allow the app to be approved. In my opinion this should be done anyway and I think apple is justified in rejecting apps that use this technique. It is annoying, confusing, and causes a user to question just what the app is doing when an app that has absolutely no reason to know your location prompts you to allow the use of location services.
But Apple also bought Quattro Wireless which serves ads to the iphone as well. If they ban these type of ads, they hurt themselves as well. Hopefully someone can find out more info about this soon.
I think the thread title is misleading. Even the OP isn't entirely accurate. The ad networks I've used have always stated that unless the app itself requires location awareness, it is not recommended to turn it on for the sole purpose of advertising.
I've used Admob, Greystripe, and Quattro wireless. All of them require CoreLocation to be added. I recall admob has a flag whether your app can ASK if the user will allow the location to be requested. But I didn't see a way to disable/remove CoreLocation calls from the sdk. So even if the user says its OK to allow ads with location, Apple still won't allow it. I also doubt if Apple checks to see if CoreLocation is actually used in the app even. If it's being referenced in the code, but not used, Apple still might push it back. This means, all the ad network sdks need to create a version that does reference CoreLocation at all.
Fall Down! has ads in it but it hasn't been pulled, maybe I'm not following but why is this a big deal?
