Testing that your ads are implemented correctly is an important step in your app development. However, publishers may not click on their own production ads, even for testing purposes. Clicking on production ads can result in a policy violation for invalid traffic.
During app development and testing, use demo ads or test devices to verify your implementation code without violating AdMob policy.
Demo ads
The quickest way to enable testing is to use the Google-provided demo ad units. With demo ads, you don’t have to create your own ad unit to test your app. The Google-provided demo ad units are not associated with your AdMob account, so there's no risk of your account generating invalid traffic when using these ad units.
When you use the Google-provided ad unit IDs, demo ads will always fill. The demo ad unit IDs are available on Google Developer for Android and iOS.
Click to view an example demo ad
Test devices
Test devices allow you to more rigorously test your implementation code by returning production-looking ads in test mode to your app. You can configure your device as a test device and use your own ad unit IDs that you've created in your AdMob account.
When you enable a test device, the AdMob Network sends production ads in test mode to your device using the ad unit IDs that you've created in your AdMob account. This lets you safely test production ads and verify your implementation code without violating AdMob’s invalid traffic policy.
Learn how to set up a test device.