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Google to Stop Collecting Advertising Identifiers in iOS Apps in Response to iOS 14's Upcoming Tracking Prompt

My thing is if an app developer really can't stay profitable without getting your information without your permission, much less without your knowledge, then the developer has a really crappy business model.

To be fair, consumers' expectation of everything being free sucks, too. It isn't free to develop and maintain an app. Gotta find a way that allows the consumer to pay willingly and have the developer make enough money to keep working on the app.
 
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MacRumors said:
Google added that it is "working hard to understand and comply with Apple's guidelines" for all of its apps in the App Store, and ensured that its iOS apps will be updated with privacy label information as necessary when new features or bug fixes are introduced.
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Let me get this straight: Google, a $1.2 trillion tech behemoth, is having problems understanding Apple's privacy label guidelines seven months after Apple first announced them and almost two months after they went into effect? Yet other tech giants and tiny developers are having no problem understanding them? Come on, man.
 
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I don't like to sound like a pessimist, but Google, Facebook and other bigs aren't just going to sit and watch something like this brew. I am sure they will have a way around this - they likely already have.

Especially Google. Those guys do all kinds of crazy stuff in the fields of AI and Machine Learning. No way something like this Apple Gate can get in their way in the medium-to-long-term.
 
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A light has turned on and the creepers are scattering. Keep it up, Apple.

But what is this “ASK app not to track”? Why can’t a user revoke an app’s ability to track?
Same with apps reading the OS clipboard, that ability should be revokable by the user per app.
And while we’re at it, we should be able to revoke internet access (both cellular and WiFi) from specific apps.
 
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gaximus said:
App developers just need to make ad free versions of their app. If it is a decent app, I'll gladly pay a dollar or two to remove ads. I have so many apps that show ads that don't offer a remove ads option.
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There are two issues.
One, for many, nowadays paying more than a dollar or two is too much, regardless of what the app does.
Second, for most people, nothing beats free.
Thus the consumer behavior is driving developers to just go with ads as it generates more revenue than the one-time $1 payment. Made sense.
 
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guzhogi said:
My thing is if an app developer really can't stay profitable without getting your information without your permission, much less without your knowledge, then the developer has a really crappy business model.

To be fair, consumers' expectation of everything being free sucks, too. It isn't free to develop and maintain an app. Gotta find a way that allows the consumer to pay willingly and have the developer make enough money to keep working on the app.
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The fault can be given to the first party apps themselves like Google/Apple, who are giving their apps for free. That sets the expectations of consumers. A consumer doesn't care if you are a giant software company or a solo developer. They just want free apps. Thus the ads win. Even Apple tried joining in with iAds.

Another alternative is subscription model. That at least gives prolonged support for the developer. But again, nothing beats free.
 
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Apple should sell subscription tokens that can be used to subscribe to apps in the App Store. That way you could subscribe to bunches of applications without having to worry about being charged again at the end of the term. You could manage your subscriptions on your AppleID page.
 
Mike_Trivisonno said:
I like how it says it is all to provide you with a better experience. lol.
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I scoff every time a company says that. It’s every company’s go-to intro statement when they’re about to tell you they’re changing something to your detriment. Eg. raising subscription prices, taking away features, decreasing the number of devices allowed on your account—always preluded with “to provide our customers with the best experience”. The statement is at best disingenuous, and at worst a flat out lie—either way, disrespectful to the customer. I want a company to have the decency to be up front and say that it’s a business decision to increase their bottom line. I would respect that much more, and would be much more likely to accept it, because I want to give my money to companies that respect their customers.
 
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ian87w said:
The fault can be given to the first party apps themselves like Google/Apple, who are giving their apps for free. That sets the expectations of consumers. A consumer doesn't care if you are a giant software company or a solo developer. They just want free apps. Thus the ads win. Even Apple tried joining in with iAds.

Another alternative is subscription model. That at least gives prolonged support for the developer. But again, nothing beats free.
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What these people don't see is that those first party apps aren't exactly free. You pay for them via the cost of the device (well, at least with Apple - with Google it's different, as you also get those apps for free on Android devices not sold by Google themselves).
 
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Let’s all get real here, it’s asking them not to track us it’s not saying they have to stop and what is the penalty for tracking without consent? Remember the do not track header and how well that did? If Apple is so privacy minded why is it so hard to delete cookies and website data on iOS? Why do we even have cookies? And when did someone decide it’s ok for websites to store data on my device? We’re all just sheeple. If these were $10 devices that we discarded like coffee cups maybe but for $1300 all in I don’t think so. Come on Apple take a real stance on privacy!!
 
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I fear that Google might create some method that will do almost everything that it could do before with IDFAs... probably through some "Fingerprinting" method.
Since it will stop using IDFAs there won’t be any prompt asking for people permission to be tracked... so no legal challenge... The prompt should just appear for any app regardless of technology... this way applications would be bound by a public commitment...
 
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cal6n said:
Does this translate as "We have found a way of tracking iOS users that "technically" we don't need to declare"?
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google reportedly said that most users are logged into their google account when using the apps. that way google can track them without the iOS identifier.
 
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IG88 said:
Someone addressed this awhile back but I don't have it bookmarked. I am fairly confident that the tracking is opt-in, so "ask not to track" is just odd wording IMO.
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The fact you need to ask them explicitly not to track you after the label is done, means they still track you anyway. Apple gave them quite a room to escape the privacy label anyway.. Showing what data is collected is OK, but preventing it is totally different conversation.. Either you've being tracked or not, there's no middle ground with this.

RunsForFun said:
This is probably because they found another way to track users. 🙄
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Or just got enough of data to elaborate their sophisticated AI algorithms and predict most of our activities. After all people do all same thing.. mostly..
 
gaximus said:
App developers just need to make ad free versions of their app. If it is a decent app, I'll gladly pay a dollar or two to remove ads. I have so many apps that show ads that don't offer a remove ads option.
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They need to make subscription as an option. And then if you decide to stop subscribing, it reverts to ads.
 
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Out of curiosity, will anyone on this forum click the "Allow" when this dialog pops up. With all the personal information tracking going on in the world, my family has been hit with identity theft on multiple occasions. My feeling is personal information collecting and selling should be illegal.
 
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Labeno said:
Out of curiosity, will anyone on this forum click the "Allow" when this dialog pops up. With all the personal information tracking going on in the world, my family has been hit with identity theft on multiple occasions. My feeling is personal information collecting and selling should be illegal.
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I won't. If tracking is a (claimed) necessity for an app, I will not use it. There are either alternatives that respect my privacy, or I will manage to do without said app (as I do with WhatsApp, Facebook and some others).
 
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If you can’t afford to pay a living wage, then your business is not a successful one. If you can’t make enough revenue from the sale of your app, then your app is not a successful one.
 
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