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Apr 12, 2001
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An early look at an ongoing analysis of Apple's App Tracking Transparency suggests that the vast majority of iPhone users are leaving app tracking disabled since the feature went live on April 26 with the release of iOS 14.5.

tracking-disabled-ios-14-5.jpg

According to the latest data from analytics firm Flurry, just 4% of iPhone users in the U.S. have actively chosen to opt into app tracking after updating their device to iOS 14.5. The data is based on a sampling of 2.5 million daily mobile active users.

When looking at users worldwide who allow app tracking, the figure rises to 12% of users in a 5.3 million user sample size.

att-opt-out-flurry-analytics1.jpg

With the release of iOS 14.5, apps must now ask for and receive user permission before they can access a device's random advertising identifier, which is used to track user activity across apps and websites. Users can either enable or disable the ability for apps to ask to track them. Apple disables the setting by default.

Since the update almost two weeks ago, Flurry's figures show a stable rate of app-tracking opt-outs, with the worldwide figure hovering between 11-13%, and 2-5% in the U.S. The challenge for the personalized ads market will be significant if the first two weeks end up reflecting a long-term trend.

att-opt-out-flurry-analytics2.jpg

Facebook, a vociferous opponent of ATT, has already started attempting to convince users that they must enable tracking in iOS 14.5 if they want to help keep Facebook and Instagram "free of charge." That sentiment would seem to go against the social network's earlier claim that ATT will have a "manageable" impact on its business and could even benefit Facebook in the long term.

Flurry Analytics, owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing aggregated insights across 2 billion mobile devices per month. Flurry intends to update its figures every weekday for the daily opt-in rate as well as the share of users that apps cannot ask to track, both in the U.S. and globally.

Article Link: Analytics Suggest 96% of Users Leave App Tracking Disabled in iOS 14.5
 
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tigerintank

macrumors 6502
Jun 16, 2013
271
47
Tried to toggle it on, in 14.5 so I could choose on a per app basis - if I felt the app developer merited it. Of course it didn't work as we know with the 14.5 bug.

Installed 14.5.1 - still doesn't work for me, so its still toggled off.
 

mazz0

macrumors 68040
Mar 23, 2011
3,112
3,555
Leeds, UK
With the release of iOS 14.5, apps must now ask for and receive user permission before they can can access a device's random advertising identifier, which is used to track user activity across apps and websites. Users can either enable or disable the ability for apps to ask to track them. Apple disables the setting by default.
I don't know why this point isn't being reported and highlighted more, as far as I can see it's by far the most important bit and a way bigger deal than the actual introduction of the option.

I would argue Apple have effectively just turned tracking off completely, since apps can't even aks you to enable it unless you already have actively changed a setting to let them, a setting the vast majority of people won't even know exists. If users don't know about it they can't change it, so the "Aks To Track" option effectively doesn't exist in most cases.

This is very different from how the discussion has been framed until now.

It's always been described as "Apple to require apps to aks for permission to track" which was hard to argue against, but "Apple Disables App Tracking" is a very different thing, easier to argue against, and I suspect much more controversial. I suggest we change future headlines to reflect the reality of the situation.

Edit
: We also need clarification on whether this is actually true or not, and in what situations it is or isn't, because some people are saying it was enabled for them by default (it was disabled for me by default, but I came via a beta, maybe that makes a different.
 
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Nuno Lopes

macrumors 65816
Sep 6, 2011
1,215
1,065
Lisbon, Portugal
Honestly I only knew that could be disabled or disabled through reading this site. No indication of that in the update. So unless people come to these kinds of sites … they won’t know.

Its disabled by default anyway so there not real optin or opt out going on here, no questions asked after the update, nothing. Again, a choice pretending to be one for any regular iPhone user.

There would be if it was enabled by default and when the App requested to track than opt in or opt out per app or just there and than disable for all.

This is clear a process designed not to transparently give the user the the option. They market one thing and again deliver another. This is about control over third party business models, Apple control … how can something good be turned bad? It requires imagination.

An Apple Social Network is coming.
 
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Nilonym

macrumors member
Jan 14, 2007
43
28
Seattle, WA
I don’t see this in the data at Flurry. The US vs worldwide numbers for opt-in are reversed in the article. The US is 4%, worldwide is 12%.

And my read is that only 4% have app tracking disabled (“restricted users” in the article), not 96%.
 

iapplelove

Suspended
Nov 22, 2011
5,324
7,638
East Coast USA
Tried to toggle it on, in 14.5 so I could choose on a per app basis - if I felt the app developer merited it. Of course it didn't work as we know with the 14.5 bug.

Installed 14.5.1 - still doesn't work for me, so its still toggled off.

ohh so there is a bug? I still have yet to receive any prompts. Although I don’t have many apps installed less than 20. I do use google services through out the day. No tracking
 

Chris5488

macrumors regular
Feb 26, 2011
223
37
Belgium
Apple limiting specific advertising is likely the best advertisement for Apple itself :) and we should be very glad for this! Some people act like "I have nothing to hide" or don't really care. But just step back for a moment and observe in what kind of world we live in. We never asked for advertisement in our lives, it just happened. Slowly but steadily we're advancing more towards a '1984' or 'Big Brother'-world when tracking is a thing.

When firms like Facebook and Google get all desperate, actively battle for tracking and gathering user-data because they have based their whole business model on it as an argument, just have to face they have chosen a wrong business model.
 

chenks

macrumors 65816
Oct 23, 2007
1,187
489
UK
Is it off by default? I'm not sure it is.

i don't think it is.
i bought a new 12 pro on monday, and i've just checked and the setting is enabled - never enabled it manually.

the wording of the question is also a little ambiguous - it could be taken as if it's disabled then apps don't need to ask to track and they will track unless you otherwise stop it.
 
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