POV: Apple App Tracking Transparency

BACKGROUND:
Apple shared more details this week about its App
Tracking Transparency privacy feature that will soon
be enforced with the launch of iOS 14.5 and which
allows users to control their data and whether it is
shared for ad-targeting purposes.

DETAILS AND IMPLICATIONS:
The company first announced at its WWDC in June
2020 that app developers would have to ask for
user permission in order to track and share their
advertising identifier (IDFA) for ad targeting purposes,
but then delayed the tracking restrictions coming into
effect when iOS 14 launched last September - giving
developers more time to make necessary changes.

Now, with the launch of iOS 14.5 expected in the next
few weeks, the privacy feature will be mandatory and
Apple will require any app that collects and shares
users’ data for tracking purposes to clearly display
the App Tracking Transparency prompt and explicitly
ask for and get the user’s permission to track them or
access their device’s advertising identifier.

Previously, Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA)
was freely available without consent (though users
could opt-out) allowing developers and advertisers
to link specific ad impressions to app and browser
actions. The new feature moves to an explicit opt-in
model and users will be asked if they want to allow
the app to track their activity across other companies’
apps and websites. Users will be able to control at
an app-by-app level whether their data is shared for
ad targeting purposes and can toggle the feature on
or off at any time in the Tracking menu in the privacy
settings and also enable tracking across all apps or
opt out entirely with one toggle.

Apple also offers a separate ‘Personalized Ads’
toggle that allows users to decide whether they want
to be tracked within Apple’s first-party apps. This is
totally distinct from the IDFA opt-in prompt.

However, the new rules are not limited to only the
IDFA identifier. When a user opts out of tracking,
Apple also expects developers to stop using any
other identifiers – such as hashed email addresses
for example - to track users and not to share data
with data brokers. Reports suggest that developers
will still be able to track users across their own family
of apps if operated by a single company, just not
across all apps.

Apple has also updated its ‘A Day in the Life of Your
Data’ report that explains how users are tracked and
targeted to include new information, including details
of two ad measurement technologies that advertisers
can use to measure the impact of their campaigns
without tracking users.

One is SKAdNetwork, which tracks how many times
an app was installed after ads for it were seen, but
without any user or device-level data begin shared.
The second is Private Click Measurement that will be
available for apps in iOS and iPadOS 14.5 in addition
to websites. This feature for measuring ad clicks
across websites and from iOS apps to websites can
be used to understand which ads drive conversions,
whilst maintaining user privacy.

SUMMARY:
The impact of Apple’s move remains to be seen and
much will depend on take up of the privacy options
by consumers. No-one knows the opt-in rate that
can be expected or the speed of change, so for the
moment it is a wait and see situation. Meanwhile,
in China, developers are looking at a workaround
called CAID (China Advertising ID) that uses device
attributes (fingerprinting) to bypass the Apple
changes. If the Chinese eco-system gets behind this
approach, Apple may have difficult time enforcing its
approach.

FURTHER READING:
TechCrunch / Apple Developer Blog / MacRumors
/ Mindshare POV - Apple iOS Tracking Update /
AdExchanger