We heard your feedback via Play Console crash reports regarding Application Not Responding (ANRs) errors related to the Google Mobile Ads SDK. After analyzing these reports, we updated our SDK implementation best practices to reduce ANR rates. The recommended best practices are as follows:

1. Initialize the Mobile Ads SDK on a background thread
2. Enable optimization flag for ad loading

   1. Initialize the Mobile Ads SDK on a background thread

   Our previous best practice was to specify the OPTIMIZE_INITIALIZATION manifest flag. However, some work on the calling thread is still required to prepare MobileAds to handle other method calls synchronously.

   We now recommend calling MobileAds.initialize() on a background thread, enabling the work required on the calling thread to happen in the background.

   import com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAds
   import kotlinx.coroutines.CoroutineScope
   import kotlinx.coroutines.Dispatchers
   import kotlinx.coroutines.launch
   
   class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
     override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
       super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
       setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
   
       CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch {
         // Initialize the Google Mobile Ads SDK on a background thread.
         MobileAds.initialize(this@MainActivity) {}
         runOnUiThread {
           // Load an ad on the main thread.
           loadAd()
         }
       }
     }
   }
   
   
   
   
   Note: When calling MobileAds.initialize() on a background thread, the OPTIMIZE_INITIALIZATION manifest flag is no longer required.
   
   
   
   2. Enable optimization flag for ad loading
   
   
   
   By enabling the OPTIMIZE_AD_LOADING manifest flag, you can offload most ad loading tasks to a background thread. We recommend enabling this flag in your app's AndroidManifest.xml file to reduce the occurrence of ad loading causing ANRs. 
   
   
   
   
   <manifest>
     ...
     <application>
         ...
         <meta-data
             android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.flag.OPTIMIZE_AD_LOADING"
             android:value="true"/>
     </application>
   </manifest>
   
   
   
   
   
   We’ve updated all of our Android example apps to implement these best practices. For more details on initialization and optimization flags, see Get started and Optimize initialization and ad loading. Contact us if you have any questions or need additional help.
   
   
    - Joshua Hui, Mobile Ads Developer Relations
   
       
   
                           
   
   We heard your feedback via Play Console crash reports regarding Application Not Responding (ANRs) errors related to the Google Mobile Ads SDK. After analyzing these reports, we updated our SDK implementation best practices to reduce ANR rates. The recommended best practices are as follows:
   
   
   
   Initialize the Mobile Ads SDK on a background thread
   Enable optimization flag for ad loading
   
   
   
   1. Initialize the Mobile Ads SDK on a background thread
   
   
   Our previous best practice was to specify the OPTIMIZE_INITIALIZATION manifest flag. However, some work on the calling thread is still required to prepare MobileAds to handle other method calls synchronously.
   
   
   We now recommend calling MobileAds.initialize() on a background thread, enabling the work required on the calling thread to happen in the background.
   
   
   import com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAds
   import kotlinx.coroutines.CoroutineScope
   import kotlinx.coroutines.Dispatchers
   import kotlinx.coroutines.launch
   
   class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
     override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
       super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
       setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
   
       CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch {
         // Initialize the Google Mobile Ads SDK on a background thread.
         MobileAds.initialize(this@MainActivity) {}
         runOnUiThread {
           // Load an ad on the main thread.
           loadAd()
         }
       }
     }
   }
   
   
   
   
   Note: When calling MobileAds.initialize() on a background thread, the OPTIMIZE_INITIALIZATION manifest flag is no longer required.
   
   
   
   2. Enable optimization flag for ad loading
   
   
   
   By enabling the OPTIMIZE_AD_LOADING manifest flag, you can offload most ad loading tasks to a background thread. We recommend enabling this flag in your app's AndroidManifest.xml file to reduce the occurrence of ad loading causing ANRs. 
   
   
   
   
   <manifest>
     ...
     <application>
         ...
         <meta-data
             android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.flag.OPTIMIZE_AD_LOADING"
             android:value="true"/>
     </application>
   </manifest>
   
   
   
   
   
   We’ve updated all of our Android example apps to implement these best practices. For more details on initialization and optimization flags, see Get started and Optimize initialization and ad loading. Contact us if you have any questions or need additional help.
   
   
    - Joshua Hui, Mobile Ads Developer Relations
   
   
   
   
   

All of your requests made from your app’s UI or within ad inspector will appear in the SDK request log; your requests made from within ad inspector will be differentiated by being labeled with “Requested from ad inspector”. For these special requests you’ll be able to tap the “View” button one time to view the actual ad, see which network filled the slot, and more.

Alongside single ad source testing, these new testing features will allow you to rigorously test each individual ad network integration in your app.

To learn more about how to test your ads with ad inspector, check out our developer guides here:

• Android (AdMob | Ad Manager)
• iOS (AdMob | Ad Manager)
• Flutter (AdMob | Ad Manager)
• Unity (AdMob)
• C++ (AdMob)

If you have any questions or need additional help, please contact us via the developer forum.

 - Chris Giglio, Mobile Ads Developer Relations