About the advertising ID collection
By default, Batch SDK will try to collect the advertising ID attached to the device of your users the first time the SDK starts.
This will only work if:
Your app includes the "play-services-ads-identifier" library and your manifest includes the "Google AD_ID" permission (see more here)
At the device level, if your users did not turn off "Ad personalization" in Android's system settings (Settings → Google → Ads).
Once collected, the advertising ID can be used to:
Improve debugging: In addition to the installation ID and the custom user ID, the advertising ID can be used to find a specific install. Batch will show all the installs attached to the advertising ID so they can be added as targets for test push notifications or to debug targeting/delivery issues (see documentation).
Improve segmentation: Advertising IDs can be used to send a push notification to specific devices via the Transactional API or to create segments using the Custom Audience API.
Improve your data exports: Collected advertising IDs will be added to the exports generated via the Export API, allowing you to match data coming from Batch with data coming from other tools of your marketing stack.
Simplify your GDPR requests: Lastly, you can request a full data export or send a data deletion request targeting an advertising ID.
Please note Batch does not rely on the advertising ID to work. All the points listed above can be addressed using other types of IDs such as:
The installation ID: Generated by Batch SDK the first time the SDK starts in your app for a specific install. The installation ID can be shown in your app to simplify debugging tasks, retrieved manually or collected in your backend for advanced use cases (see documentation).
The Custom User ID: The Custom User ID is a native field in Batch data model. You can use it to pass to Batch, through the SDK, a unique user ID existing on your end to identify a user (see documentation). For example, you can pass a custom ID to Batch when your users log into your app/website and clear that field when users log out.
You can explicitly disable the advertising ID collection in your code as follows (see documentation):
Batch.setConfig(Config(API_KEY).setCanUseAdvertisingID(false))
Filling the advertising ID form in the Play Console
In the Play Console, developers need to declare if one of the SDKs implemented in their app collects the advertising ID and clarify the purposes of that data collection.
Select "NO" after reviewing your code, and only if:
Your app does not include the "play-services-ads-identifier" library
And your manifest does not include the "Google AD_ID" permission.
If both of the above conditions match your setup, make sure the advertising ID collection is explicitly disabled at Batch SDK level (see documentation). Of course, be sure no other SDK is collecting that type of identifier.
Select "YES", if:
Your app includes the "play-services-ads-identifier" library
And your manifest includes the "Google AD_ID" permission
And you didn't disable explicitly the advertising ID collection at Batch SDK level (see documentation).
You will also need to select "Yes" if Batch doesn't collect advertising IDs, but if any other SDK used in your app does.
Once this is done, select the purposes tied to the advertising ID collection in your app (e.g. analytics, personalization, etc).