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Apple Explains Why 'Allow Apps to Request to Track' May Be Grayed Out on iOS 14.5

k1121j said:
Good now can you fix the one of us who are not greyed out and still get no "ask app not to track" pop up. :)
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dmylrea said:
Has anyone actually gotten a pop-up from any app asking to track? I've tried some apps that surely should ask (Instagram) and no pop-up. This is with the new setting turned on (green).
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beanbaguk said:
Once again, having used 14.5 RC for over a week, I'm yet to see a single notification.....
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Apps need to be built with the iOS 14 SDK for this to work, which is now a requirement for submitting app updates to the App Store starting on the 26th. Have any of your apps that you suspect have tracking pushed out an update since then? If not, you won't see the prompt yet.
 
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AngerDanger said:
I too remember when iOS was so lacking in features that it didn't need as many explanations for those features.

One way to look at it is that if you want to use iOS 14.5 like you used iOS 6 and below, none of these preferences matter anyway because they're for features that didn't exist at the time.

Technically, iOS is just as simple but has added complexity for those who want it. :)
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I didn’t recognize you without the mask. :rolleyes:
 
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cableguy84 said:
Who remembers the days pre ios7 when ios was so simple and intelligently designed nothing needed an explanation?
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I also remember the 7+ clicks it took to turn bluetooth on and off!

A dev created an app for it to allow you to do it quickly (which I bought) and Apple promptly removed it from the Appstore.
 
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iStorm said:
Apps need to be built with the iOS 14 SDK for this to work, which is now a requirement for submitting app updates to the App Store starting on the 26th. Have any of your apps that you suspect have tracking pushed out an update since then? If not, you won't see the prompt yet.
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Thank you for your clarification however in my case it's a bug in iOS my guess is this is a wide spread issue here are a few apps not asking after downloading , Facebook, BBC, H&M many more but you get my point
 
My iPhone defaulted to off, I flipped my iPad to off the second the install finished. I would not be mad if it was locked in the off position like this forever, why is this even a big deal? The default is the good option!
 
None of these apply to me and it's greyed out. Personalised ads has been greyed out for at least a year for me as well.

There must be some sort of bug that flags Apple IDs as restricted when they shouldn't be.
 
k1121j said:
Thank you for your clarification however in my case it's a bug in iOS my guess is this is a wide spread issue here are a few apps not asking after downloading , Facebook, BBC, H&M many more but you get my point
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I don't think these apps have been updated though. Facebook was last updated on the 24th, BBC News a month ago, and H&M was a week ago. These were likely built with an older SDK. It's when the app was updated in the App Store you want to look at, not when it was downloaded/installed on your device.
 
iStorm said:
Apps need to be built with the iOS 14 SDK for this to work, which is now a requirement for submitting app updates to the App Store starting on the 26th. Have any of your apps that you suspect have tracking pushed out an update since then? If not, you won't see the prompt yet.
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Does this mean that all apps are now forced to drop compatibility with any device that isn’t running iOS 14.5 including iPhones stuck on iOS 12?
 
As a developer, I've never liked disabling or graying out an option without explaining in the UI why it is disabled.
Otherwise you end up with issues like this that require press release, lol. Much easier to add text describing why it's disabled or not have the option appear at all.
Apple used to be good about this.
 
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dmelgar said:
As a developer, I've never liked disabling or graying out an option without explaining in the UI why it is disabled.
Otherwise you end up with issues like this that require press release, lol. Much easier to add text describing why it's disabled or not have the option appear at all.
Apple used to be good about this.
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Text describing why it’s disabled is the way to go imo.

We have an unwritten rule never to hide disabled functionality from users if the functionality isn’t available for some reason but to “grey it out” with a tooltip or something similar. When you hide something from users then usually a lot of support tickets come in asking why they can’t see a certain feature thinking it’s a bug. Greying it out (and explaining through a tooltip why!) dramatically cuts down the amount of support tickets related to unavailable features :)

Apple indeed could’ve avoided this by just having an explainer about why it’s greyed out.
 
I still want to know why is this tracking even allowed at the code level for apps that certainly do not require it.

For example, why does WhatsApp need access to my browsing history? Is that on Facebook or is that on Apple to have it out in the open for apps to peep into? Why does Bumble need my Health and Fitness data?

I am not going into the extreme details here, just working on a broad overview level. I feel this is as much Apple's allowing as it is apps' taking. Apps cannot take from us what Apple is not allowing to be taken. They should take care when allowing apps on the App Store that they do not take more than what they need for functioning as they claim to. Bumble does not need Health and Fitness data. Apple is allowing that app on the Store without explanation from them why do they need it.

I like the option of privacy and all that, but I would much prefer a more thorough system from Apple. It is their OS, after all.


EDIT: It has come to my notice that WhatsApp no longer peeps into my browsing history.
 
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iStorm said:
I don't think these apps have been updated though. Facebook was last updated on the 24th, BBC News a month ago, and H&M was a week ago. These were likely built with an older SDK. It's when the app was updated in the App Store you want to look at, not when it was downloaded/installed on your device.
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My wife has H&M in her list of apps not allowed to track. When I download and start the same app I do not get a pop-up. (Apps are allowed to ask for permission on my phone).
 
Good that MR cleared this up.
The "Allow Apps To Request To Track" slider button in Settings/Privacy/Tracking is the most non informative and confusing label that could ever be dreamed up. The explanation below it is a head scratcher too.
For all the effort they went to implementing this - they sure fell on their face attempting to describe what that button actually does
 
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dmelgar said:
As a developer, I've never liked disabling or graying out an option without explaining in the UI why it is disabled.
Otherwise you end up with issues like this that require press release, lol. Much easier to add text describing why it's disabled or not have the option appear at all.
Apple used to be good about this.
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Bingo. Especially as in this case its disabled for users who do not fall into the restricted Apple ID category, and shouldn't have it greyed out.

At least if it explained why it was disabled for your account it would give something to fix/tell support about.
 
now i see it said:
Good that MR cleared this up.
The "Allow Apps To Request To Track" slider button in Settings/Privacy/Tracking is the most non informative and confusing label that could ever be dreamed up. The explanation below it is a head scratcher too.
For all the effort they went to implementing this - they sure fell on their face attempting to describe what that button actually does
Click to expand...

Just imagine all the back and forth meetings they must have had to eventually arrive at a horrible result.
 
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The real question: Who is complaining about this, outside of people who work for advertisers and social media companies? Everyone should turn this off.
 
AppleTO said:
Does this mean that all apps are now forced to drop compatibility with any device that isn’t running iOS 14.5 including iPhones stuck on iOS 12?
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No, this shouldn't drop compatibility for anything. Apps can still be built/targeted for older versions of iOS.
 
macintoshmac said:
For example, why does WhatsApp need access to my browsing history? Is that on Facebook or is that on Apple to have it out in the open for apps to peep into? Why does Bumble need my Health and Fitness data?
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About WhatsApp and browser history, it does? I don't see anything about it.

About Bumble, the App Privacy section in the App Store states clearly how the data is used and it's "Developer's Advertising or Marketing".

According to Apple it means:

Developer's Advertising or Marketing: Such as displaying first-party ads in your app, sending marketing communications directly to your users, or sharing data with entities who will display your ads
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cableguy84 said:
Who remembers the days pre ios7 when ios was so simple and intelligently designed nothing needed an explanation?
Click to expand...
And horrifically locked down where you could barley change a thing. I've been with iOS since the beginning and it's certainly changed for the better.

And I'd never want to see a return to a skeuomorphic design again either.
 
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