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Apple’s latest iPhone update, iOS 14.5, brings a host of new features customers will likely see and enjoy – better Face ID unlocking while wearing a mask (for Apple Watch users only), new emoji, PS5 and Xbox Series X Support for controllers, and more. But the new update also adds a much more important and controversial new feature: App Tracking Transparency. It is Apple’s name for a privacy feature that is taking shape to become the company’s next big fight.
The change has been a controversial one. Apple originally announced the feature last June along with the rest of iOS 14, but has delayed so far to give developers more time to adapt to the changes. It is after all, however, that there may be a massive fight between Cupertino tech giants and competitors like Facebook.
How did ad tracking work on iOS before?
Prior to iOS 14.5, developers could use a host of devices to track user data from within an app. Advertisers can then use it in conjunction with similar data from the rest of the web to identify information about the user and use that profile to better target ads (and other companies and To sell advertising opportunities to businesses that want to focus. Their specific marketing segments).
The main tool that has been available to developers so far has been an Apple-controlled system for nearly a decade, Identifiers to Identifiers (IDFA), but developers also use other third-party tools and methods to tie user data together. can do.
What does app tracking transparency change?
Technically, App Tracking Transparency alone makes no seismic changes to how iOS tracking handles advertising. Users have previously been able to opt out of IDFA-based tracking, but the new update puts the choice and center in front.
This forces developers to give users a choice: once iOS is updated to 14.5, every single company that wants to track users and their data on different apps and websites is now created by Apple Permission must first be sought using a standardized prompt, which looks like this:
If users say they are being tracked (“Allow” Clicking the button) then everything works exactly as it did before.
If they “Ask not to track the application” When clicked on, that developer may not track customers using their data in that app, or sell that data to other companies. Not with Apple’s IDFA system, and not with its own system.
Are there any exceptions or options?
There are some exceptions to Apple’s new app tracking rules. First, companies that build multiple apps on their own can track users of those various apps – for example, Facebook may use data collected from Instagram to target ads in its main app.
And Apple is offering new in-house tools instead of developers. One tool, SKAdNetwork, can tell a company how many times its app was installed after seeing an advertisement. Another, private click measurement, can tell them how many times users clicked on an ad for a product within an app. Apple says both of those methods are designed to prevent people from receiving information about a specific user, however.
Why are people angry about this?
App tracking transparency has been praised by groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Called concept Companies ask to be created before tracking users on the Internet “Clear baseline.”
But not everyone likes this system, and the strongest objections to app tracking transparency have come from Facebook. It says that Apple’s new system will make it harder and more expensive for ad networks to easily target customers, which in turn will hurt small businesses that rely on highly targeted advertising campaigns.
Facebook has pulled out full-page newspaper ads grappling with the changes, arguing that Apple’s changes could also harm websites that rely on enticing targeted ads that subscribe to content services or Force payment.
While Facebook’s core arguments appear altruistic, it is also important to note that Facebook stands to lose itself here. As information Points out, Apple’s new rule-of-advertising types are not a big part of Facebook’s business model – less than 5 percent of Facebook’s $ 84 billion annual advertising revenue – but it’s still a noticeable part of the change , Especially given that Facebook’s internal estimates reportedly expected about 80 percent of iOS users to opt out.
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Apple is also offering companies a chance to make their case to allow ad tracking. Developers will control When To show signs of Apple, especially apps like Facebook, NBC News, or the BBC, users have been given the opportunity to make their case about why they allow tracking. And Facebook is doing so, with a letter to users that tries to sell them on the idea of getting more relevant ads and supporting small businesses.
Can companies track me anyway?
Apple’s prompt disables its IFDA system at the system level, so if users close the apps, developers cannot access it. Apple says that companies When it comes to other means of tracking user data, “It is necessary to respect your choice beyond the advertising identifier”, And companies trying to sneak around the rule may be subject to the same result as any other developer who violated the terms of the App Store. Services, including up to and removing their applications.
What about Apple’s apps?
Apple says its apps will follow the new rules, too – as a matter of policy, the company claims that its first-party apps don’t already track users on other apps and websites, which is why Is that you will not see it appear on Apple’s apps.
That said, Apple Does There is still some tracking that it uses to serve personalized advertisements within the App Store, Stock and Apple News apps. As detailed here, Apple uses location, keyboard language settings, device type, OS version, mobile carrier, and more information to serve more relevant ads to customers within its app. It also uses account information and previous purchases to entice customers to market segments for better targeted ads within those apps.
The difference is that Apple only uses that information in its own apps, does not link it to additional profiles from third-party sources, and does not sell the data. Apple also Extra toggleTo disable that tracking “Settings> Privacy> Apple Advertising” Is located in
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Are there anti concerns?
This is a major technical story in 2021; There are certainly conflicting concerns. Has a group of German advertisers Already filed a complaint About the new system, and French regulator An initial contradictory complaint was shot down in March, noting that the system was on Apple’s part “Does not seem abusive”.
Will I spam these toggles forever?
No. Apps can only request once, when you open them for the first time after an update. Developers who do not want to track you do not have to show prompts immediately. There is also a global settings switch that lets users exit all apps by default in Settings> Privacy> Tracking, and “Allow application to track” Turns it off. That menu allows users to allow (or revoke) from apps after showing the initial prompt.
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