Apple Agrees to Make 'App Tracking Transparency' Changes in Germany

[Unregistered 4U]

It'd be kind of nice if we could also opt out of Apple tracking us on our own devices.

You can. And, as expected, you get worse suggestions as a result. Unless you're talking about not having Apple Track the apps you purchase (so you can't re-download) or the services you subscribe to (so you can't play streaming content)?

 

[turbineseaplane]

You can. And, as expected, you get worse suggestions as a result. Unless you're talking about not having Apple Track the apps you purchase (so you can't re-download) or the services you subscribe to (so you can't play streaming content)?

Really? I didn't know you could.
Where is the setting to disable all analytics on my device inside Apple first party Apps?

Is that per App or a system wide toggle?
I've never been able to find it.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Really? I didn't know you could.
Where is the setting to disable all analytics on my device inside Apple first party Apps?

Is that per App or a system wide toggle?
I've never been able to find it.

It’s when you set up the device. If you disable analytics, that’s it. Done until you get another device.

You can check by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics and Improvements AND Apple Advertising

If you want Apple NOT to keep track of what you buy and the services you’re subscribed to, they don’t allow that (likely because there are few people that simply want to pay for things then not have access to those things. It would be more considered a huge bug than a desired feature).

The good news is that there’s an easy way for Apple to NOT have any data on a given user. And, that’s for that user to get rid of their AppleID. And, submit a request to have their history deleted from Apple’s servers. And, unlike the data brokers, they will collect no more data on that user unless that user voluntarily creates a new AppleID.

 

[BaldiMac]

Correct.
However, the article makes it look like the Bundeskartellamt requested positive language be added.
Which is FALSE.

They only asked for the same prompt for all the apps. Apple then chose to change the language to not make their own apps look so bad.

Apple’s own apps don’t track across third parties, so what are you referring to?

If you’re saying that Germany is requiring them to equate first party tracking with third party tracking then, then they are effectively requiring Apple to include an explanation to differentiate.

 

[canadianreader]

“Appname is requesting to track your apps and websites activity”
Allow
Deny

Much simpler this way.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

“Appname is requesting to track your apps and websites activity”
Allow
Deny

Much simpler this way.

Ad companies would say that “track your activity” sounds too scary. Not recognizing that if the factual representation of what they plan to do is scary, then maybe they shouldn’t be doing it. 🙂

 

[canadianreader]

Ad companies would say that “track your activity” sounds too scary.

Sure Apple could make the wording less offensive to these companies. Personally I'm more interested in clear Allow and Deny buttons. "Ask app not to track" is vague and unconvincing.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Sure Apple could make the wording less offensive to these companies. Personally I'm more interested in clear Allow and Deny buttons. "Ask app not to track" is vague and unconvincing.

It’s vague because there is absolutely nothing Apple can do that can prevent someone on a device using multiple different apps with ads in them from being tracked. If I signed into Facebook, then opened an app with a meta ad being displayed, they can effectively assume that’s me. Then, using a meta tracker from reddit, if they also see that I’m posting there, they can connect all I’ve done on reddit and Facebook to ensure that the ad they show me in that game is most likely to get a response from me. NONE of that requires the device’s identifier, just assumptions based on third-party trackers they have embedded in the apps. Ask not to Track provides your intent to the developer. The developer can ignore your intent, but if it’s found that they did, they could be pulled into court for it.

Further, if the person posts an image to Facebook, Meta can use that image or the meta data attached to determine where a person is without tapping into the devices location services. And now they can get ads from local businesses.

 

[canadianreader]

When we were innocent and gullible

 

[Unregistered 4U]

When we were innocent and gullible
View attachment 2653365

Unless the EU regulates their citizens privacy away. 🙂

 

[rme]

Ads should be banned for apps altogether. Get rid of the whole awful F2P market.

Choice is good.

 

[rme]

There are people who actually like targeted and personalized ads, so tracking doesn't bother them. It's wild.

Or : they are willing to trade their privacy for free apps

 

[canadianreader]

It’s vague because there is absolutely nothing Apple can do that can prevent someone on a device using multiple different apps with ads in them from being tracked.

I agree with you on that also Apple could prevent such apps from snooping on each others’ content by default unless it’s specifically allowed by the device owner. This is the reason I favor more open source apps that don’t collect any type of data. If Apple don’t want to protect its users then they absolutely need to do it themselves otherwise they’re the product.

Unless the EU regulates their citizens privacy away. 🙂

With chat control alone EU have shown their true colors. People need to step up and protect their privacy by themselves instead of expecting governments or corpos to do it for them because they won't.

Deleting unnecessary apps
Using browsers instead of apps
Physical media that you own over subscriptions
Selfhost your data instead of the Cloud (someone else’s computer)
More local AI and less corporate AI
etc

 

[ItsASpider]

So much for German regulations protecting your privacy. It's always about who pays the regulators.

How exactly is this bad for protecting your privacy? Not only does this take away the trap off apps having to ask the user twice not to track, giving the user twice the opportunity to misclick, but it also means that Apple now has to be more honest about its own tracking behaviors and can no longer give itself positive language whilst app developers have to deal with Apple's negative language that it picked out for them.

That the language of the new pop up makes you think that it appears less negative than the old popup says more about Apple's original malicious intent, because clearly they don't want to associate the old language with their own apps, despite the old prompt for third parties and their own first party apps serving the same exact purpose.

This is literally a win for privacy across the board; both in keeping Apple accountable and by making the UX simpeler for users by reducing the number of privacy prompts.

EDIT 2:
@Joe Rossignol
The Macrumors article should be modified to reflect that the changes Apple agreed to, are not made becuase Germany wanted to weaken the language, but because Apple choose to change the language to not make their own tracking inside their own appe look so bad.

Don't bother, this has been mentioned multiple times underneath articles about this topic, still they keep depicting it as some malicious thing from EU regulators...

Apple’s own apps don’t track across third parties, so what are you referring to?

If you’re saying that Germany is requiring them to equate first party tracking with third party tracking then, then they are effectively requiring Apple to include an explanation to differentiate.

What makes you think Apple Search Ads and Apple Ads Attributions don't share data with parties outside Apple? Because they do. Apple's ad network is just as bad as any other ad network out there for your privacy, don't fool yourself. There is a reason why the prompt you got for Apple's apps is a GDPR-compliant one while third party app developers had to both go through the "Ask app not to track"-prompt (which isn't GDPR-compliant) and then ask again with a GDPR-compliant prompt.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

How exactly is this bad for protecting your privacy? Not only does this take away the trap off apps having to ask the user twice not to track, giving the user twice the opportunity to misclick, but it also means that Apple now has to be more honest about its own tracking behaviors and can no longer give itself positive language whilst app developers have to deal with Apple's negative language that it picked out for them.

That the language of the new pop up makes you think that it appears less negative than the old popup says more about Apple's original malicious intent, because clearly they don't want to associate the old language with their own apps, despite the old prompt for third parties and their own first party apps serving the same exact purpose.

This is literally a win for privacy across the board; both in keeping Apple accountable and by making the UX simpeler for users by reducing the number of privacy prompts.

Ad companies don’t like current state because people are intentionally choosing to be tracked. As a result, the change is guaranteed to be geared to making MORE people choose to be tracked. Is wording the tracking in a way that the user feels like saying “yes” better than being offered the facts and the user saying, “no”?

Apple doesn’t have to make any changes because ATT affects only companies that are monetizing uses via third-party tracking. They’re not going to start third-party tracking, other reputable companies aren’t going to start third-party tracking, so this only affects those companies that provide data to data brokers. If you’re in favor of data brokers, that’s fine, I just didn’t expect that there would be that many folks in favor of companies tricking people into enabling tracking.

People being tricked into enabling tracking is a win for privacy!

 

[BaldiMac]

How exactly is this bad for protecting your privacy? Not only does this take away the trap off apps having to ask the user twice not to track, giving the user twice the opportunity to misclick, but it also means that Apple now has to be more honest about its own tracking behaviors and can no longer give itself positive language whilst app developers have to deal with Apple's negative language that it picked out for them.

That the language of the new pop up makes you think that it appears less negative than the old popup says more about Apple's original malicious intent, because clearly they don't want to associate the old language with their own apps, despite the old prompt for third parties and their own first party apps serving the same exact purpose.

This is literally a win for privacy across the board; both in keeping Apple accountable and by making the UX simpeler for users by reducing the number of privacy prompts.


Don't bother, this has been mentioned multiple times underneat articles about this topic, still they keep depicting it as some malicious thing from EU regulators...

Again, Apple doesn’t engage in third party tracking, so it’s a lie to say they the language favored their own apps for the exact same purpose. And even bigger lie to make up “malicious intent”.