Apple has announced its intention to shut down the iAd App Network. While most in the industry understood the original announcement in January to mean the end of a specific feature within iAd, updates posted to Apple’s website now spell out a complete shutdown of iAd for developers.
According to Apple’s updates, “Apps that have implemented the deprecated iAd.Framework classes should not crash solely because of the deprecation. On your next regular app update or submission, you should remove the iAd framework and connection.” (emphasis added) For any apps that are not updated, “no ads will be returned in your app.”
Despite earlier ambiguity, it’s now clear that app developers are not a part of the iAd equation going forward.
After July 1, 2016 , you will no longer get ads with iAd. However, Apple will not be rejecting apps that include the iAd framework for now. Because of this, there is no immediate reason for Corona Labs to discontinue the iAd plugin. But if you depend on iAd for revenue, that July 1 deadline is approaching fast – you should switch to a new provider very soon.
Next steps
Corona Labs offers many alternatives to Apple iAd that you can implement today. You can see them all in our plugin documentation, but Corona Ads is a great option. Corona Ads offers everything iAd did, and it’s super easy to include in your app. Check out this blog post to see how to get started. Make sure you update before July – don’t lose your revenue streams!
If you wish to discuss this further, please join us on the Corona Forums.
Reference: Apple Insider article on the impending shutdown of iAd.