Apple today released a video on the company’s YouTube channel explaining the new App Tracking Transparency framework included in today’s releases of iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5 that lets users control which apps are allowed to track their activity across other companies’ apps and websites.
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency video:
Starting with Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, user consent for ad tracking will be managed through the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system.
App developers will now be required to use the App Tracking Transparency framework if their app collects data about users and shares it with third parties for purposes of tracking across apps and websites.
ATT will not allow cross-website and cross-app tracking app tracking unless the user actively opts in.
Apple last month said that the company will apply App Tracking Transparency rules to all apps worldwide, even in China.
MacDailyNews Take: Learn more about Apple’s App Tracking Transparency: http://apple.com/privacy
Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English, and repeatedly. I’m an optimist; I believe people are smart, and some people want to share more data than other people do. Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of your asking them. Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with your data. — Steve Jobs
In Settings, Privacy, Tracking > turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track” and no app will ever track you or even ask you for permission. This seems like the ideal approach, but this was already available in the previous rev, so I’m not really sure what we are even talking about. I guess Apple is just being polite. On my phone and iPad Tracking was off by default.
Anyone else have the same observation or insight?
how does the end user know if he’s being tracked?
the Apple controls do NOT specify that tracking is completely blocked. actually there is little incentive for Apple to block all tracking, since Apple is trying to be a player in the ad agency market too.
Apple -might- limit basic unsophisticated tracking on apps and it -might- not sell all the info it tracks on you. but you have zero evidence to show Apple doesn’t keep tabs on you, as their fine print user agreement allows.
this appears to be a step towards Apple putting in place a mechanism to monetize its user information, which will be sold when the end user subscribes to a service. read the fine print, when you subscribe, Apple has its paws all over your data.
in short: Farcebook and Gaggle steal all the data they can get their hands on, and users give it to them for the convenience of free mail, maps, search, etc. Apple used to make money selling hardware but it saw it was falling behind so subscriptions became the focus. then they realized that with every hardware sale and every subscription, end users were happily paying Apple AND also giving Apple endless data. Apple isn’t going to let that easy money pass them by!
show me evidence otherwise. not vague public statements, but actual Apple written agreement or contract with users. go ahead, impress us.
Its spelled out in black and white here:
https://www.apple.com/privacy/control/
I use Ad blockers wherever possible. I disabled Tracking and Personalized Advertising. I allow Analytics.
It would seem that Apple still is able to serve up ads in the App Store and News that they think are relevant to me, which is fine by me, I don’t look at them. So Sux you are at least partially correct that Apple is still able to take advantage of some data. IMHO this is innocuous compared to the invasiveness of Google and FB. You may or may not be impressed, but I am.
Though I appreciate the feature, the features it offers should be under the law and not coming from “Apple as the IT department”. I don’t want them as a mandatory IT department. Though I repeat, I appreciate how they implemented it.