Nuked Apple’s new privacy feature requiring developers ask for permission to track iOS users for ad targeting is at last going live in the next iOS 14 beta. A planned full release some time this spring for non-beta users, the company says.
Apple originally planned for the feature to go live with the launch of iOS 14 last fall. It delayed its implementation to 2021 in September of last year to give developers more time to comply.
App tracking transparency will mark a shift in how mobile app developers are able to collect data on iPhone owners. Prior to the change, Apple let iPhone owners dig into their settings to disable this type of tracking.
The so-called identifier for advertisers (IDFA) is linked to your device, collected by the first app, and shared with the second app. That allows those apps to serve targeted ads and measure whether the ad actually worked.
Apple’s new opt-in requirement will make it so developers must have express consent to allow their IDFA to be collected and shared across apps. The sharing with other third-party companies is effectively what Apple refers to when it uses the word’tracking’.
Apple intends to strictly police any attempt to get around the opt-in requirement. App developers will also be barred from charging money or incentivizing users with in-app perks.
Apple says the rules will also apply to its own apps. The company already lets users disable personalized advertising. Ad personalization is not the same as ad tracking.
Facebook is the biggest opponent to Apple’s new privacy measures. This includes opt-in requirement and app privacy labels it launched on the app store last month.
Facebook has positioned itself as a champion of small businesses that risk getting hurt by privacy changes. Small businesses do rely on Facebook’s ad network and its powerful targeting tools to reach customers.
Facebook cast Apple as a hypocrite trying to exempt itself from the rules it forces on other developers. In full-page newspaper ads and statements to the press, Facebook criticized Apple for encouraging app business models that rely less on advertising and more on subscriptions.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Apple’has every incentive to interfere with how our apps and other apps work’.’this impacts the growth of millions of businesses around the world, including with the upcoming iOS 14 changes’.
Apple has consistently defended its choice as a way to give users more freedom over their privacy. The showdown has emerged as one of the largest and most visible tech company feuds in recent memory.
Apple has created a new online guide called’a day in the life of your data’. The average mobile app contains six trackers that share your data with other apps.
