Apple IDFA / Google GAID (Advertising ID) Regex for Go

What this pattern does

This page provides a well-structured, multi-part regular expression for matching apple idfa / google gaid (advertising id), ported and verified for Go. Identity and credential patterns need both correctness and safety, since they're frequent targets for adversarial input. The snippet below is ready to drop into your Go project — whether you're validating in a Gin handler, a gRPC service, or a command-line tool.

Go Implementation

// Apple IDFA / Google GAID (Advertising ID)
// ReDoS-safe | RegexVault — Identity & PII > Digital Identity

package validation

import "regexp"

var appleIdfaGoogleGaidAdvertisingIdRe = regexp.MustCompile(`^[0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-4[0-9a-f]{3}-[89ab][0-9a-f]{3}-[0-9a-f]{12}$`)

func ValidateAppleIdfaGoogleGaidAdvertisingId(s string) bool {
    return appleIdfaGoogleGaidAdvertisingIdRe.MatchString(s)
}

// Example
// fmt.Println(ValidateAppleIdfaGoogleGaidAdvertisingId("6D92078A-85A5-4F7E-A9D7-1A9A5A5A5A5A")) // true

Test Cases

When to use this pattern

This pattern is drawn from the Identity & PII > Digital Identity category and carries a ReDoS-safe certification. That matters for Go developers because Go's RE2 engine is inherently safe from catastrophic backtracking, but this pattern has been additionally verified for correctness. RegexVault audits patterns against known backtracking attack vectors, ensuring you have the necessary context before using this regex in a high-stakes production environment.

Common Pitfalls

Technical Notes

IDFA (iOS) and GAID (Android) are UUID v4 format advertising identifiers. The nil IDFA (00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000) indicates the user has opted out of tracking (iOS 14+ ATT framework). Google allows users to reset GAID at any time.