Good to know. Mine is turned off already. Can’t remember if I did that myself or if it’s the default in 14.3.
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Apple's New Privacy-Focused Tracking Prompt Appearing for iOS 14 Users [Updated]
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My iPad has a privacy tracking button that is “Allow apps to Request to Track”. So it looks like you can.
I think saying no precisely prevents them from using the unique advertising identifier. This article says so, but also the dialog it shows is different. So I'm confused.
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Technically it‘s not blocked, but if the developer fails to comply, his apps will be removed from App Store.
Apple can stop from sharing one specific identifier (which is what this prompt does) but can’t stop apps from tracking short of shutting of all network access. Apple has no sure fire technological way to block all tracking. Honestly I think this whole thing is a bit overblown. Apple and Facebook are both going over the top. I run a small business and we are definitely getting caught in the middle.
Does anyone know if Apple's built-in apps track users?
Or is this prompt going to appear in any of Apple's apps?
Or is this prompt going to appear in any of Apple's apps?
Yeah people giving high fives to Apple for pulling a fast one. Please go ahead and track as you wish, this just makes Apple look good.
I’m confused as to how this is effecting small business. Could you please elaborate?
Please note that I’m not saying or implying that it doesn’t effect small business. You say that you are caught in the middle. I’m just asking how so?
Yup. That's under Privacy -> Tracking "Allow Apps to Request To Track". This replaces the old "Limit Ad Tracking" setting. If you previously had "Limit Ad Tracking" set to on, this "Allow Apps to Request to Track" should default to off based on what Apple said at WWDC.
Sure. There are still a lot of unknowns on what the full effects will be, but I'll explain what I know so far. The issue with a lot of the sweeping statements that Apple and Facebook make is that there is a whole lot of nuance. I imagine most people won't read much of what I write, but here goes. I run a three-person company and we make iOS and Android card games. We make money by showing ads or letting people pay to remove them (spoiler alert: nobody pays to remove them) in our apps and we get users for our games by paying for advertising to get users into our apps.
Apple's changes basically will get rid of the identifier that lets people measure how effective their ads are because they can't match up someone who installs an app with the ad that brought them to the app. This is Facebook's argument. They have some statistic about how much less effective ads will be able to targeted. There is some truth to that. I suspect our ad rates will go down and we will earn less money. We will also have a have a harder time time figuring out which ads are the most effective. If I run an ad for my app on Facebook, Apple Search, and in a bunch of other apps, I won't know which ad brought in the good users (ie ones that spend a lot of time in my app) -except Apple Search, because Apple is allowed to track still.
But WAIT - Apple announced a fix for all of these privacy issues - at WWDC they said they had a privacy friendly way that ad networks could use that would allow them to still do ad measurement (what I've been talking about above) in an anonymous way. This "privacy friendly ad network" that Apple has created is called SKAdNetwork. The problem is Apple's implementation is very buggy and has all sorts of weird limitations - like any measurement has to happen within the first 24 hours after an ad is tapped on. What you are going to see is within a few months of Apple's enforcement of Advertising Tracking Transparency - is that as apps switch over to using SKAdNetwork, which doesn't require the ATT Prompt and goes through Apple, apps will become very aggressive to try and get your to "convert" in your first 24 hours of using the app. They'll also be more aggressive about trying to collect e-mail addresses or another login so that they have another way that they can keep track of you now that they can't use the old tracking identifier.
TLDR:
How am I, a small business owner, caught in the middle (we make card game apps that are advertising dependent)?
Our revenue will likely go down and our ability to be able to acquire users will become harder to measure. We also need to switch over wait for all of our ad networks (Facebook, Google, etc.) to update their code to use Apple somewhat buggy ad tracking tool that wasn't super well thought out. Our business will survive. We've had a boost this year with people shifting their attention to using our apps during the pandemic to kill time. But when people get back to normal we could see a significant drop-off of users in addition to the issues I talked about above.
Yes, “ask not to allow” is a pretty curious wording. I’d prefer “deny”. More satisfying to tap, too. “Can we please …?” “Denied!!”
More info here on what "ask app not to track" actually does - it denies the developer from accessing the unique advertising identifier that Apple builds into every iOS device:
Up til now (from iOS 6 onwards) Apple has allowed any app developer access to this UUID which allows them to tie all interaction with their app to a specific device:
advertisingIdentifier | Apple Developer Documentation
The UUID that is specific to a device.
Good, I was disappointed when Apple backed down and delayed the notification.
I also have very much appreciated the notification of when an app looks at the clipboard for data that originated in a different app.
keep up the privacy controls and privacy awareness/notifications Apple! It’s a strong reason for several people I know and myself to stay in the Apple ecosystem.
I also have very much appreciated the notification of when an app looks at the clipboard for data that originated in a different app.
keep up the privacy controls and privacy awareness/notifications Apple! It’s a strong reason for several people I know and myself to stay in the Apple ecosystem.
I don’t want “a better and more personal ad experience”. If I had my choice I would experience no ads.
As a privacy measure, Apple will be requiring developers of iPhone and iPad apps to request permission from users to track their activity across other apps and websites for personalized advertising purposes starting early next year.
Ahead of time, the prompt for users to allow or deny tracking has started to show up in the first beta of iOS 14.4, seeded last week. A screenshot shared in the MacRumors forums shows the NBA app requesting to track a user's activity, with the customizable fine print indicating that the data will be used to provide users "a better and personalized ad experience."
iOS 14.4 should be publicly released in January or February, lining up with Apple's timeframe of "early next year" for this change. Apple originally planned to introduce the prompt in September, but it delayed to provide developers with more time to prepare.
Last week, Facebook claimed that Apple's new requirement will hurt small businesses, adding that the move is "more about profit than privacy." In a full-page newspaper ad, Facebook said that Apple's move will force small businesses to turn to subscriptions and other in-app payments for revenue, in turn benefitting Apple's bottom line.
"They're hurting small businesses and publishers who are already struggling in a pandemic," said Facebook, in a blog post. "These changes will directly affect their ability to use their advertising budgets efficiently and effectively."
In response to Facebook, Apple expressed that users deserve control and transparency. "We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users," said Apple, adding that "users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not."
Earlier this week, the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called Facebook's campaign against Apple "laughable" and applauded Apple for its "pro-privacy" change.
"When a company does the right thing for its users, EFF will stand with it, just as we will come down hard on companies that do the wrong thing," the EFF said. "Here, Apple is right and Facebook is wrong."
Update: The tracking prompt is also starting to appear in certain apps on previous versions of iOS 14 as well, but rather inconsistently.
Article Link: Apple's New Privacy-Focused Tracking Prompt Begins Appearing for iOS 14 Users [Updated]
Can't wait for this. I already keep my apps at a minimum. This will be a cleansing of sorts - apps that are too intrusive that I don't need I'll just delete. I'm quite curious to see which apps will surprise me, I know there will be several of them for sure.
But this is a big deal (last para). I don't care if FB tracks people who use FB, WA, IG. They have signed up for the services, acknowledged the Ts&Cs and are fair game.
This is significant because FB tracks you even if you don't, and have never used any of their services. This is a violation of privacy equivalent to physical stalking, made worse by the fact that FB has been caught multiple times selling this info for very nefarious purposes (election meddling, lobbying, etc).
The fact that they are resisting this move shows how reliant they are on tracking people who are NOT their users (since they will still be able to track users without these restrictions).
Facebook is a truly evil entity, no doubt about this.
Thanks for taking the time to write that, I have learned something new.
However, as much as I sympathize with the fact that you will (hopefully temporarily) see a loss of revenue, it is clear that the cause is a flawed business model (in that it relies on privacy violation to work). If privacy advocates are successful, this model will die, and hopefully be replaced by something which is not user hostile.
The most intrusive apps I use are Google ones - however I accept this because the services are useful and quite indispensable to me.
Yes an app should be in its own container not outside, it should not be able to collect any information.
This is an excellent move by Apple, but my concern is that devs will do with this the same that some web devs are doing with ad blockers and cookies: if you don’t disable the limiter then you can’t use the app. When The Herd is given a choice between privacy and convenience, convenience wins every time (see below for a perfect example).
And if so it’s ok really. You clearly accept the transaction between you and Google. I’m more curious of companion apps.
