What changed
Google announced on November 6, 2026 that the CocoaPods Specs repository becomes permanently read-only on December 2. From that date, new versions of Google Mobile Ads SDK and mediation adapters for iOS will no longer be published to CocoaPods. Existing releases remain available, but subsequent functionality and fixes will be distributed via Swift Package Manager (SPM) and manual downloads. Google also names the User Messaging Platform SDK among integrations to audit.
Why it matters
Mobile developers monetising apps through Google's ad SDK may have builds that continue to succeed while silently missing later security, compatibility and mediation fixes. The deadline is a maintenance and deployment risk, not an immediate shutdown of ads. Teams with several mediation adapters need to verify each adapter's supported SPM package and version alignment, rather than merely replacing one Podfile entry.
What actually stops on December 2
The CocoaPods Specs repository becomes read-only. Previously published Google-Mobile-Ads-SDK and mediation adapter versions remain accessible, so existing installations are not automatically broken. Google says no new SDK, adapter or related updates will be pushed there after the cutoff. Swift Package Manager and manual distribution become the supported update paths.
Migration needs an inventory, not just a package-manager switch
Audit the Podfile, lockfile, build pipelines and all ad mediation adapters. Follow Google's current iOS quick-start for SPM integration, verify compatible adapter packages, and test consent flow, initialisation, ad load and revenue callbacks in a staging build. A project can retain CocoaPods for unrelated libraries while integrating the Google SDK through SPM, but duplicate SDK linking must be avoided.
Watch the toolchain compatibility boundary
Google's iOS quick-start separately warns that Xcode 27 requires a minimum iOS 15 deployment target while Google Mobile Ads SDK still supports iOS 13; CocoaPods projects may need a post-install deployment-target override. This is distinct from the December distribution cutoff, but can complicate migrations.
Evidence and limits
The November 6 Google developer notice and current Google Mobile Ads iOS integration documentation independently corroborate the distribution cutoff within Google's own documentation. A contemporaneous third-party reproduction of the notice confirms the announcement but does not demonstrate a completed migration or adapter-by-adapter compatibility. No claim is made that currently installed SDKs stop serving ads on December 2.