How to Stop Apps From Tracking You in iOS 14.5

[Hammerd]

I think you'll be surprised how many apps track you. Its not just Facebook.

For some reason no app at all has asked me if I want to be tracked or not after iOS 14.5 update. Like that don’t want to be asking that suspicious question.
After checking manually if each app could be updated, I found some and the pop up is still not there..

 

[Hammerd]

Wow. How convoluted could the language be on this feature?

On the pop-up: "Ask App Not To Track" or "Allow"; why not simply 'Block Tracking" or 'Allow Tracking'?

Then if you go into Settings > Privacy > Tracking, you are faced with "Allow Apps to Request to Track". This could be off or on when you get there. So you might wonder, "If it is off, does this mean the app gets to track me? And when it is on, have I given them permission to track me, or is that vise-versa?" The guidance directly under that switch does nothing to clarify the issue.

Turns out, if you go into 'Learn more...' the language gets even more confusing, into doublespeak and possibly even double negative. Turns out (I think) that if you leave the switch off, iOS will block all requests automatically and you'll not see the pop-up screen on newly installed / updated apps. If you leave the switch on, you will see these pop-ups and, if you use "Ask App Not To Track", it will list them in the Settings > Privacy > Tracking section, for you to later change your mind on.

Couldn't they have simply called it "Tracking", with the instruction that "Off means that tracking is subject to user choice (the pop-up window per each new / updated app), while On blocks all tracking, and no pop-up is seen"?

Some tech writer with Apple spending too much time in his bedroom 'office' during the pandemic, and not enough time talking to real, live people.

It’s done on purpose. Every word are weighted by a team of lawyers

 

[videosoul]

Came here to post the same thing. I have the option turned ON in Privacy/Tracking, yet I've launched lots of apps and not a single one has prompted me. I thought Instagram, for one, would definitely prompt, but no...

Same here.

 

[planteater]

data sharing is off by default unless you are prompted and actively say yes to it.

companies won't trigger the iOS prompt unless you express you want your data to be shared, because they only get one chance to ask you. When you say no in their own UI, your data is not being used for ads, but they will most likely ask you again down the road as you are doing something in context.

When you ask a company not to track, what people don't seem to get is you are not hurting FB, you are hurting the company itself. Their ads will become less effective, and therefore their business will dwindle.

People complain they don't see relevant ads anyways, but last time I checked digital advertising was a multi billion dollar industry, you would think companies know their ROI when they dump so much money into this.

Tracking and data sharing is not an ethical business model. So any harm done to companies that participate in it is a good thing. Let them go under or figure out how to add enough value that they don't need to be data sucking slime.

 

[MoreAwesomeDanU]

Tracking and data sharing is not an ethical business model. So any harm done to companies that participate in it is a good thing. Let them go under or figure out how to add enough value that they don't need to be data sucking slime.

please define the difference of "tracking" vs "data sharing" in your own sentences. I already told you what advertising platforms like google and fb does, please enlighten us on what you think happens

 

[MoreAwesomeDanU]

It’s a protest against how their advertising money is being spent. By definition, protests are supposed to cause pain, to change an unwanted behavior.

Hey if you wanna go back to the days where everything you buy comes from big retail chains like Walmart, and the only product innovation and choices will come from gigantic corporations who can afford to pay for better shelf space and bill board and TV ads, go right ahead.

Why do you think there are millions of shops on Shopify that are started by people no different than you and me? Why do you think we are now offered choices from companies large and small with all sorts of different variations in any given product category?

Modern digital advertising allowed businesses to be discovered and grow in ways affordable to them, and it enabled them to compete in spaces that are dominated by large established players, and offered consumers a choice.

 

[MoreAwesomeDanU]

Seems to be conditional to advertisers using Apples ad system on iOS … 5k criteria mat home needed. Also bout the last screenshot it’s Apple talk king to the end user But not specifically bout advertising. Seems like you’re mixing separate info to make a point?

Not sure what you mean by me mixing information to make a point.

It clearly states they will assign you into target segments to be shown ads for, and guess what these segments are based on? All your activities on your phone.

I don't see how this is any different from tracking.

So FB and Google are currently going like "hey DeepIn2U is interesting diapers because he came to our diapers website".

And what apple will be doing is (based on their own description) "hey this user in this group with 4000 others are interested in diapers because they searched for it, they have these baby apps on their phone, their gender, and they read baby related news"

That sounds a LOT like tracking to me.

Now if apple only did phones, it would be ok, but they own your fitness, your tv watching habits, your gaming behaviors, all the apps you use on your phone, what kind of news you read, what kind of stocks you care about, what books you read, and knows exactly what you buy with the Apple Card. Sounds like they will be able to build a more detailed profile on you than FB would at this point, basically exactly what you described in your original post.

I guess my point is that they are doing all this in broad daylight, while condemning other tech companies and "educating" people on privacy, yet all the sheeples are cheering them on. Cool, carry on then.

 

[planteater]

please define the difference of "tracking" vs "data sharing" in your own sentences. I already told you what advertising platforms like google and fb does, please enlighten us on what you think happens

I don’t need to define for you that which is common knowledge. What I’m wondering though is, what makes a person such as yourself support such a despicable practice. Is privacy of no importance to you? Is the privacy of others worth nothing?

 

[MoreAwesomeDanU]

I don’t need to define for you that which is common knowledge. What I’m wondering though is, what makes a person such as yourself support such a despicable practice. Is privacy of no importance to you? Is the privacy of others worth nothing?

no, please define the terms tracking, data sharing, and privacy for me. And I can do this 100 times with 100 different people who seem to care so much about it here on this forum, and I guarantee you I will get 100 different answers.

It's really quite entertaining to see so many people being such strong advocates on something they barely understand

by saying "ask not to track", what you are actually doing is hurting the growth that internet has been able to drive for the capitalist world in the past 20 or so years, and blindly giving apple, a company that's already the world's most valuable company more leverage on your data (which to my points earlier, they will happily use to run ads with). All in the name of some elusive concept of "privacy" that apple has sold you on.

that's what really gets me, if that answers your question.

 

[MacBH928]

I went to turn off this feature and it was OFF by default. I turned it on to see which apps are requesting to be tracked and there were none. Not even the suspicious YouTube, Twitter, SnapChat, Microsoft Edge, or Amazon app. Were we all so paranoid?

 

[MacBH928]

I can’t envision a single reason why I would want to allow any app to track me for advertising. It’s not like all these so-called personalized ads were ever relevant to me. I’d rather be given the option to pay and not have any ads/tracking of any variety (including metrics) or as generic as possible if I’m not allowed the option.

Believe it or not, on the PiHole subreddit (software that block ads on reddit) some people are posting topics about enabling family members devices to see ads. They claim when they turned off the ads for them they got mad, especially those AdWord ones that Google Search gives out on top of the search query.

 

[DeepIn2U]

data sharing is off by default unless you are prompted and actively say yes to it.

companies won't trigger the iOS prompt unless you express you want your data to be shared, because they only get one chance to ask you. When you say no in their own UI, your data is not being used for ads, but they will most likely ask you again down the road as you are doing something in context.

When you ask a company not to track, what people don't seem to get is you are not hurting FB, you are hurting the company itself. Their ads will become less effective, and therefore their business will dwindle.

People complain they don't see relevant ads anyways, but last time I checked digital advertising was a multi billion dollar industry, you would think companies know their ROI when they dump so much money into this.

A correction ... when an ad is updated, installed and launched after 14.5 then the app will prompt within iOS to trigger your choice to share your data or not. Unless all apps are disabled in iOS Settings > Privacy> Ask apps not to track.

That said ... sure the end user on iOS could be hurting the advertising company as it affects them ultimately making their add dollars less effective, how effective is debatable. It still will hurt FB in the end though ... cause if the ad company no longer has effective ads directly within FB they'll take their dollars elsewhere.

This doesn't stop FB crawlers/bots etc whatever they're called not to source data from browsers and websites. Like a FB friend he's mentioned our full name, tastes in food, vacations, friends etc. That data will still link to you - even if you don't have a FB account, it'll still have data across the web linking to you.

Many companies join the pie for data as they'll get some data metrics out of it, data officers will report to upper management stating 1 million men have looks at the Testicuzzi ad on IG ... BUT nobody clicked the link to see the price (joking example). of those 1 million men - over 2/3rds have expressed interest in a personal body hair trimmer. If Tessticuzzi and other products company's are their customer it's data they want. Does it state demographics of those men ... probably not who knows. What I'm saying is they'll still get their data elsewhere, maybe slowerly

Not sure what you mean by me mixing information to make a point.

It clearly states they will assign you into target segments to be shown ads for, and guess what these segments are based on? All your activities on your phone.

I don't see how this is any different from tracking.

So FB and Google are currently going like "hey DeepIn2U is interesting diapers because he came to our diapers website".

And what apple will be doing is (based on their own description) "hey this user in this group with 4000 others are interested in diapers because they searched for it, they have these baby apps on their phone, their gender, and they read baby related news"

That sounds a LOT like tracking to me.

Now if apple only did phones, it would be ok, but they own your fitness, your tv watching habits, your gaming behaviors, all the apps you use on your phone, what kind of news you read, what kind of stocks you care about, what books you read, and knows exactly what you buy with the Apple Card. Sounds like they will be able to build a more detailed profile on you than FB would at this point, basically exactly what you described in your original post.

I guess my point is that they are doing all this in broad daylight, while condemning other tech companies and "educating" people on privacy, yet all the sheeples are cheering them on. Cool, carry on then.

thanks for explaining. Makes sense.

curious has apple actually used this analytical data on any iOS iPadOS user? Has such information been sold, used, etc?!

 

[jeremiah256]

Hey if you wanna go back to the days where everything you buy comes from big retail chains like Walmart, and the only product innovation and choices will come from gigantic corporations who can afford to pay for better shelf space and bill board and TV ads, go right ahead.

Why do you think there are millions of shops on Shopify that are started by people no different than you and me? Why do you think we are now offered choices from companies large and small with all sorts of different variations in any given product category?

Modern digital advertising allowed businesses to be discovered and grow in ways affordable to them, and it enabled them to compete in spaces that are dominated by large established players, and offered consumers a choice.

I have no idea what you're talking about. If you want to advertise, advertise. No where have I even hinted I'm against advertising.

I do have a serious problem knowing there are people who believe I, as an individual, don't have the right to say no to an entity, sometimes known, sometimes not, advertising to me on my own devices, and using my own data to influence me.

 

[UBS28]

Can we also include safari?

 

[UBS28]

Hey if you wanna go back to the days where everything you buy comes from big retail chains like Walmart, and the only product innovation and choices will come from gigantic corporations who can afford to pay for better shelf space and bill board and TV ads, go right ahead.

Why do you think there are millions of shops on Shopify that are started by people no different than you and me? Why do you think we are now offered choices from companies large and small with all sorts of different variations in any given product category?

Modern digital advertising allowed businesses to be discovered and grow in ways affordable to them, and it enabled them to compete in spaces that are dominated by large established players, and offered consumers a choice.

So you think it is fine that companies also have camera's in your home to see what we are doing "for marketing purposes"?

If I take pictures from someone and use it without their consent, I can get sued. Yet it is fine for companies to take "pictures" / "digital footprint" of what I am doing and selling it off to other companies and make money from my "pictures" / "digital footprint". That is BS.

Steve jobs didn't rely on Google analytics to create his products. So the marketing teams at those companies are just making excuses on why they need to spy on consumers.

Good that Apple puts a stop to this.

 

[Souponastick270]

So does this also stop apps from tracking you from one app to another ? Or is it just an ad blocker…

 

[nwcs]

Believe it or not, on the PiHole subreddit (software that block ads on reddit) some people are posting topics about enabling family members devices to see ads. They claim when they turned off the ads for them they got mad, especially those AdWord ones that Google Search gives out on top of the search query.

I’m sure there are always the exceptions. Probably the same people who would have/used to look through all the ads in the Sunday newspapers back in the day.

 

[nholm]

The three features I was interested in have all been disappointing on my devices.

1. Ability to block tracking -> not a single pop-up to decline so far.

2. Color correction on Apple TV -> iPhone stuck at “Preparing” then error message.

3. Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch -> Error message when trying to enable on phone.

 

[k1121j]

It’s done on purpose. Every word are weighted by a team of lawyers

that way if the app does manage to track you its not Apple's fault

 

[Bazza1]

For what it's worth, while I have this new Apple feature, I also use the free Firewall portion of the app Lockdown Privacy - its blocked 2,484 attempts to 'call home' today alone. Mostly Facebook and Google, by the looks of things. Updates its Block List weekly - all done on-device.

 

[BidFlux]

For what it's worth, while I have this new Apple feature, I also use the free Firewall portion of the app Lockdown Privacy - its blocked 2,484 attempts to 'call home' today alone. Mostly Facebook and Google, by the looks of things. Updates its Block List weekly - all done on-device.

If you want to block most ads and tracking in apps and when browsing, that is the app to have.

 

[Hammerd]

The three features I was interested in have all been disappointing on my devices.

1. Ability to block tracking -> not a single pop-up to decline so far.

2. Color correction on Apple TV -> iPhone stuck at “Preparing” then error message.

3. Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch -> Error message when trying to enable on phone.

Imagine if there wasn’t 8 beta before the release!

 

[Hammerd]

For what it's worth, while I have this new Apple feature, I also use the free Firewall portion of the app Lockdown Privacy - its blocked 2,484 attempts to 'call home' today alone. Mostly Facebook and Google, by the looks of things. Updates its Block List weekly - all done on-device.

Sounds cool I downloaded it. Will it not block essential features like the fact I’m sharing my location with family on googlz maps, won’t it block the background communication?

 

[promtonight]

For everybody who thinks that by using ATT, they have leveled up their privacy, take a look at this

To give you some background...Was very excited about ios 14.5 and ATT....watched a lot of content explaing ATT's functioning...
Came across that underrated viedo and now, it seems that I have been decieved!!

 

[GlenK]

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