Allow App to Track? Most iOS 14.5 Users Tap Fuggedaboutit!

 Allow App to Track? Most iOS 14.5 Users Tap Fuggedaboutit!

More than 90% of US users of the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system are taking advantage of a new feature to block an application's ability to track their activity on their phones. This is bad news for advertisers.

According to research updated Saturday by Flurry, an analytics company owned by the Verizon Media Group, 96% of US users of iOS 14.5 blocked app tracking using the new App Tracking Transparency feature. Worldwide, advertisers fared slightly better with 88% of users shutting down application tracking on their phones.

App Tracking Transparency requires an iOS application to inform a user, through the use of dialog boxes, that the app wants to track activity across the phone's user interface and gives a user the power to deny such access.

Over the roughly two and half weeks since the release of iOS 14.5, Flurry found that the "opt-in" rate for U.S. users rose slightly from two to five percent, while worldwide, rates climbed from 11 to 13 percent.

"I've seen four percent, and I've seen 38 percent. The real rate is probably somewhere in the middle," observed Eric Schmitt, a research director and analyst at Gartner.

In simple language we can say that :

App Tracking Transparency allows you to choose whether an app can track your activity across other companies' apps and websites for the purposes of advertising or sharing with data broker.

With iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, tvOS 14.5, apps must ask for permission before tracking your activity across other companies, apps and websites. Tracking occurs when information that identifies you or your device collected from an app linked with information that identifies you or your device collected on apps, websites and other locations owned by third parties for the purposes of targeted advertising or advertising measurement, or when the information collected is shared with data brokers. 

If you see a request to track your activity, you can tap Allow or Ask Not to Track. You can still use the full capabilities of the app, regardless of whether you allow the app to track your activity.

The app developer can customize part of the message to explain why the app is asking to track your activity. You can also visit the app’s product page in the App Store for more details about how the app developer uses your data.

If you choose Ask App Not to Track, the app developer can’t access the system advertising identifier (IDFA), which is often used to track. The app is also not permitted to track your activity using other information that identifies you or your device, like your email address.