Important: AdMob policy update. Republishing required.

Please read this post carefully, it is really important if you want to keep monetizing your apps built with Mobincube.

Some weeks ago, Admob modified its terms and conditions in order to avoid involuntary clicks. After those changes, now almost all apps built and published with Mobincube before June 27th 2015 are now infringing the new Admob’s policies. During the last 2 weeks, more and more users of Mobincube are being notified by Admob about their apps not receiving more ads.

In Mobincube we have reacted as fast as possible so that you can keep earning money with your apps peacefully and avoiding your apps being cancelled by Google.

Explanation of the issue

As you might know, you can launch full screen ads anytime inside your apps using the action "interstitial". Showing this type of ads at any moment during your app’s lifecycle was correct and even recommended. Additionally, all apps built with Mobincube used to show an interstitial ad at app start, as soon as one advertisement was available. Now Admob only allows publishers to show full screen ads when transitioning from one screen to another. In other words, popping up a full screen ad while the app user is reading some content is no longer allowed.

Another new Admob rule says that standard MRECT banners (300×250) can’t be displayed alone on a black screen with a button to close the ad. That was precisely the way Mobincube used to display full screen ads in order to make it easier for our users (only one ad code was needed) and let them earn more money (unlike native interstitials, MRECT banners have almost 100% fill rate).

Because of these 2 reasons lots of apps are now being cancelled by Admob and stop receiving ads. But there’s an wasy way for your apps to fit the new Admob’s policies.

How to prevent Admob from cancelling your apps

Last Friday, June 26th 2015, Mobincube released a new version of its source code that uses Admob’s native interstitial ads. Well, it was possible to use that format since May, but the new source code prevents your app from displaying these full screen ads while your users are reading the content of a screen. Now this type of ads are displayed just right before a new screen is loaded. Even if you’re using the action “interstitial” within a timer in some screen of your app, Mobincube will ignore the time set and will show the ad immediately when loading the screen where you used the timer.

In case your apps were published earlier than June 27th 2015, follow these steps in order to keep monetizing your apps with Admob avoiding risks:

1. Log in Mobincube and access your app on edition mode so that Mobincube knows that you are starting a new version of your app (you don’t need to set timers to zero when using the action “interstitial”, since your app will set them automatically).
2. Republish your app on Mobincube.
3. Go to Android Markets and download the new APK file.
4. Republish your app on GooglePlay.
5. Request a new ad unit code on Admob for your app. Be sure to select the format ‘interstitial’.
6. Enter the new ad unit code in the field reserved for interstitial ads within Mobincube’s monetization options section.

At this moment, the problem has been only solved for Android. We will let you know as soon as it is fixed for iOS and Windows Phone.

Deadline for the mandatory republishing

In Mobincube we take a lot of care of our users. The fact that some users don’t republish their apps in order to fit new Admob’s policies could damage the good relationship between Admob and Mobincube and that would be really harmful for all other users of Mobincube.

Therefore we feel forced to ask all our users to republish all your apps that have ads (Android version) before August 1st 2015. Much to our regret, all apps not republished before that date might stop showing Admob ads, so their authors will stop earning revenue.

We deeply regret this mishap caused by Admob. We know how bothering is to republish all your apps, specially if you have several of them. But we know that Admob is acting of good faith in order to avoid involuntary clicks, since they reduce the quality of Admob’s ad network, making good advertisers stop spending money, so the CPM goes down.

We thank you for your understanding!

Best regards,
Mobincube