Dear Developer,
Google has just released the updated version to its content policy, which we were waiting for, putting an emphasis on proper ad behavior. We were leading the efforts to improve the mobile ad behavior standards with industry leaders such as TRUSTe and Lookout. We are very happy to announce that our latest SDK is 100% compliant to the entire new Google policy.
We are actually thrilled to see these new guidelines, since this is an area in which we have been very active in the past few months and have spent a lot of effort on improving. Our approach has always been to be as transparent and user friendly as possible, while still maintaining the best interest for you, the developer. We were the first to require the addition of a disclaimer text, to let the user know about our addition, our mobile ad network holds the highest privacy standards (as a result we were acknowledged with the TRUSTe seal) and now we are the first to offer a EULA screen on app launch which offers the user a choice not to install the StartApp added product. By doing so, we are the first to comply to the new ad policy.
As a part of our efforts in the last few months, we were in close touch with “Lookout Security” as they were writing their Ad Guidelines report. They chose to use our latest SDK as an example of how it should be done - “StartApp provides one of the best examples of transparent and clear notice to users about their practices to properly set user expectations.”
The EULA screen will present to the user the access points that will be added on his device and offer him/her a choice to “Accept” or “Skip”. If he/she accepts, he/she will receive the search icon and continue to your app. If he/she skips, he/she will continue to your app and the EULA screen will appear again on his/her next visit to your app. The new SDK has already been tested on over 10 million live downloads and is ready for immediate use. Please find attached a screenshot of the EULA screen
In order to keep using our service and enjoy our pay per download revenue, follow these simple steps:
1. Download the latest SDK from your developer dashboard.
2. Make sure to follow the new instructions PDF found in the SDK zip file.
3. Test your app to make sure you see the new EULA screen and that it’s working as intended.
4. Update your app in Google Play & make sure the StartApp disclaimer text is in your app description.
By following these quick steps, your app will be fully compliant and you’ll be safe to continue generating revenue with StartApp. We hope to keep helping you monetize your apps to its fullest potential as we’ve done so far.
Here is a link to see the new policy. It’s very important that you read it carefully to see how this policy change can affect other parts of your app business.
We believe in this change and feel it will contribute to the growth of the Android system. In addition, we predict that the EULA screen will eventually lead to more users actually using our search and as a result this will lead to better pay per download in the future!
Best regards,
The StartApp Team.