Apple will require applications to request permission to track users from the next beta version of iOS 14

Apple today announced that its App Tracking Transparency privacy measure will be required starting with the next beta versions of iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and tvOS 14. Apple says software updates will be released publicly in early spring.

The requirement was originally set to go into effect last September, but Apple was slow to give developers more time to prepare.

With this change, all iPhone, iPad and Apple TV app developers will need to receive a user’s permission to track their activity on other apps and websites and access their device’s random advertising identifier, known as the Advertiser Identifier (IDFA) ), for advertising purposes or to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Users will receive a warning with the options “Allow tracking” or “Ask the app not to track” when opening apps that want to track their activities. Developers have already been able to add the tracking prompt to their apps in previous versions of iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and tvOS 14, using the transparency framework for app tracking, but it was not necessary and few apps implemented the prompt voluntarily.

If a user selects “Ask App not to Track”, Apple will block the app developer from accessing the user’s IDFA. The developer is also required to respect the tracking preference of the user in general, meaning that he cannot use other methods to track the user, or else his app can be removed from the App Store, according to Apple.

Users can manage their application-by-application tracking preferences in the Settings app under Privacy> Tracking on iOS 14.

A handful of ad networks and companies have criticized Apple’s decision, including Facebook, which ran full-page ads in newspapers and launched a website claiming that Apple’s shift in tracking will hurt small businesses financially.

“We disagree with Apple’s approach and solution, but we have no choice but to show Apple’s prompt,” said Facebook. “If we don’t, they will block Facebook from the App Store, which would further harm the people and companies that depend on our services. We cannot take that risk on behalf of the millions of companies that use our platform to grow. “

The non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation called Facebook’s criticisms “laughable”, claiming that Facebook’s campaign against Apple is actually about “what Facebook can lose if its users learn more about exactly what it and other data brokers are doing behind the scenes “Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, also supported Apple’s decision, calling it” a big win for consumers “.

Google did not publicly attack Apple’s decision, but in a blog post yesterday, the company warned developers that they may see a “significant impact” on their Google ad revenue on iOS as soon as the requirement for transparency in tracking applications start. Google also said it will stop collecting IDFAs in its iOS apps so that it does not have to present users with Apple’s tracking permission prompt on those apps.

Apple’s position is that users deserve control and transparency.

“We believe it is a simple matter to defend our users,” said Apple, adding that “users must know when their data is being collected and shared on other applications and websites – and they must have the option of allowing it or not.”

Apple’s announcement is timed with Data Privacy Day. Apple celebrated the day by sharing “A Day in the Life of Your Data”, a PDF report that explains how third-party companies track user data on websites and applications, highlights Apple’s privacy principles and provides more details on Data Tracking Transparency Applications.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak on data privacy today at the Brussels-based Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference. Cook is due to speak at 8:15 am Pacific time, and a live broadcast will be available on YouTube.