[BUG] AdMob SDK injects FOREGROUND_SERVICE via WorkManager without required Android 14 Service Types, causing high Permission Denial rates

[An4seen]

Description:
Step 1: Describe your environment

Unity version: [6000.2.13f1]

Google Mobile Ads Unity plugin version: [10.6.0]

Platform: Android

Target SDK Level: 34 or 35 (Android 14+)

Step 2: Describe the problem : Upon importing the Google Mobile Ads plugin into an empty project and exporting to Android, the plugin automatically injects the android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE permission and the androidx.work.impl.foreground.SystemForegroundService service into the merged manifest.

However, the plugin does not declare an android:foregroundServiceType for this service, nor does it include the type-specific permissions (e.g., FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC) required by Android 14+.

Impact: Because the service is declared without a type, any attempt by the internal WorkManager to start a foreground task (especially when the app is in the background) results in an immediate SecurityException or ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException.

In the Google Play Console, this is being flagged as a "User-Perceived Denial," leading to an alarmingly high denial rate even though the user is never prompted. This negatively impacts app health metrics and discoverability.

Step 3: Steps to reproduce

Create an empty Unity project (no foreground services in manifest).

Import the Google Mobile Ads Unity Plugin.

Build and inspect manifest.

Proposed Solution: The SDK should either:

Remove the requirement for a Foreground Service if it is not strictly necessary for ad delivery (allowing WorkManager to fall back to standard background jobs).

Correctly declare the Service Type (e.g., dataSync) and the corresponding permission in the internal AAR manifests to comply with Android 14+ requirements.

[NVentimiglia]

Thanks,

I have let the team know about this issue.

[ericleich]

@An4seen Can you confirm if this issue still happens if you were to manually force androidx.work:work-runtime to be version 2.9.1 or higher? For example, by explicitly adding an extra explicit dependency into a dependencies file:

<androidPackage spec="androidx.work:work-runtime:2.9.1">
      <repositories>
        <repository>https://maven.google.com/</repository>
      </repositories>
</androidPackage>

Rationale: https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/work#version_29_2 has release notes for what sounds like a similar issue fix in 2.9.1. The latest Google Mobile Ads SDK for Android (currently 24.9.0) still depends on work-runtime:2.7.0 so by default does not contain that fix.

[An4seen]

I have forced androidx.work:work-runtime:2.9.1 by adding a custom WorkManagerFixDependencies.xml file, and my resolved dependency list now correctly reflects version 2.9.1.
However, after building, I noticed that the SystemForegroundService is still injected into the final merged manifest without a foregroundServiceType attribute.

Since the GMA SDK was originally built for WorkManager 2.7.0, the internal code is likely still using the legacy ForegroundInfo constructor that doesn't specify a service type.

If the SDK code is not passing this type explicitly, the Manifest Merger cannot automatically infer it, and the service remains typeless.
Do we need to manually patch the manifest with a specific type until the SDK is updated to declare this properly (perhaps via a dedicated SystemForegroundService subclass)?