What Is the Android Advertising ID? Zero Values, AD_ID Permission, and SDK Checks
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Category: Marketing Glossary, Advertising Operations
Authors: Shusaku Yosa
The Android Advertising ID (AAID) is an advertising identifier supplied by Google Play services. Users can reset or delete it, while application permissions and execution conditions affect what an app receives. An identifier observation is not a person, and a zero value does not identify one universal cause.
This guide uses official specifications checked on October 9, 2026. Verify the app’s target API, SDK version, Google Play services environment, and distribution region. Technical availability, Google Play policy, and local privacy law are separate checks.
Distinguish AAID from other Android identifiers
Google’s advertising ID guidance describes a resettable, deletable advertising identifier. Labels such as AAID, GAID, or ADID in a report need a data dictionary: establish the provider, scope, purpose, and counting unit rather than assuming every field means the same thing.
Identifier | Provider and purpose | Scope or change condition | Official reference |
|---|---|---|---|
AAID | Google Play services; advertising | Respect reset and deletion; verify availability | Advertising ID help |
ANDROID_ID | Android platform identifier | Check signing-key, user, device, and OS conditions | Settings.Secure reference |
App Set ID | Developer-owned app-set context for non-ad uses | Different scope and reset rules; not an advertising substitute | App Set ID guidance |
Consult the ANDROID_ID reference and App Set ID documentation for their distinct behavior. Android’s identifier-selection guide recommends restricting scope to what the use case requires. A resettable advertising identifier is not a permanent identity or account credential.
Separate advertising from non-ad analytics. Missing AAID is not an instruction to substitute a persistent hardware identifier. Connect the stated purpose with your PPC advertising objectives and metrics before deciding what data is necessary.
Understand Google Play services, reset, and deletion
AAID is not an identity facility available under identical conditions in every Android environment. Check the Google Play services API or the SDK using it. An unsupported environment is different from a user deleting the identifier.
A reset changes the identifier; after deletion, an attempt to obtain it receives a zero string. This does not establish that every company or SDK automatically deleted previously stored information. Keep identifier controls, app settings, and data-rights requests separate.
Respect user choices and check the relevant rules before linking identifiers. The ability to acquire a value does not by itself permit combining it with other app, account, or device data.
Diagnose zero values and AD_ID permission separately
The Android 13 target-behavior documentation requires apps targeting API 33 or higher and using advertising ID to declare the AD_ID normal permission. Without it, the result is replaced with zeros. A dependency can contribute this declaration through manifest merging, so inspect the effective build manifest rather than one source file alone.
Observation | Possible condition | Next check | Do not conclude |
|---|---|---|---|
Ordinary ID returned | Required acquisition conditions met | Purpose, choices, policy, and recipients | All uses are legally permitted |
Zero string | User deletion among other conditions | Settings and controlled test conditions | Every zero is a person who deleted AAID |
Zero on target API 33+ | Missing AD_ID can cause this result | Target API, merged manifest, and SDK | One cause follows from zeros alone |
Error or unavailable | Services, SDK, or invocation conditions | Support, errors, version, and environment | An error equals user refusal |
AD_ID is a normal permission declaration, not a legal consent or runtime consent dialog. Declaration, acquisition, choice handling, and legal compliance are separate facts.
When zeros rise after an update, compare target API, SDK, app release, and manifest changes. Reproduce the conditions before assigning a cause. Record confirmed findings and unknowns rather than inferring users’ intentions.
Audit SDK collection and linkage
Include third-party SDK behavior. Google Play’s SDK requirements list prohibited examples involving AAID linked with persistent device identifiers for advertising or analytics, and assign developers responsibility for accurate Data safety information about SDK-handled data. Explicit consent is not a blanket exception permitting every identifier linkage.
Inventory field | Record and verify | Owner |
|---|---|---|
SDK and version | Name, version, update, and purpose | App development |
Identifier and permission | Collection settings, merged AD_ID, and zero handling | Developer and SDK provider |
Transfers and links | Fields, recipients, linked IDs, and uses | Development, advertising, and data teams |
Retention and choice | Retention, deletion, reset, and choice behavior | Data owner and legal reviewer |
Descriptions | In-app explanation, privacy notice, and Data safety | Accountable owner and legal reviewer |
A fictional entry might say: measurement SDK A; version to verify; AAID collection enabled; recipient B; account linkage unknown; deletion test pending; developer assigned. An explicit unknown with an owner is more actionable than an empty cell.
“Non-ad analytics” does not permit unrestricted linkage. Match each identifier and purpose to its applicable rules. Recheck configuration and behavior when an SDK changes rather than carrying forward an old approval unchanged.
Separate platform policy from legal classification
Google Play compliance does not establish compliance with every jurisdiction. In Japan, the Personal Information Protection Commission’s APPI Q&A, question 8-1 explains how device identifiers can be personal information when readily collated with other information to identify a person, and discusses personally referable information where they are not personal information.
Do not classify AAID identically in every context. Document held information, available links, transferred fields, and recipient handling. This paragraph concerns Japan. For California-related processing, assess the relevant role and conditions through the CCPA applicability and data-flow checklist.
Remote and cloud execution also need mapping. The guide to using Android apps from an iPhone separates the viewing device from the place where the app runs. The viewer’s OS alone does not determine the Android app’s identifiers or recipients.
Keep observations separate from people
Suppose a fictional 100 acquisition observations produce 70 ordinary-ID responses, 20 zero responses, and 10 errors. Zeros are 20/100, or 20%, of all observations. Using successful responses only gives 20/90, approximately 22.2%. Label the denominator and scope before comparing either figure.
One hundred observations are not necessarily 100 people, and 70 responses are not necessarily 70 unique people. Retries and resets can affect counts. Twenty zeros do not prove that 20 people deleted their IDs. Segment by relevant app version, target API, SDK, environment, and settings established in controlled tests.
Google’s October 17, 2025 Privacy Sandbox announcement describes retirement of specified technologies, including Android technologies. It does not establish AAID’s future retirement date, indefinite survival, or removal of usage restrictions.
Keep source links, check dates, app versions, test results, owners, and conditions for retesting. Optimize for explainable, permitted measurement that respects choices, rather than treating a higher acquisition rate as the sole objective.
