3 ms·

Only 4% of iOS users in US are opting in to ad tracking, report says

34 points by andrewgioia 5y ago

markoutso 5y ago
I hope it gets to 0%.
_fat_santa 5y ago
The 4% figure is not surprising. My suggestion is everyone go into settings and turn off tracking across the board for every app. The new ad-tracking method seems like a concession to ad companies, IMO with only a 4% user uptake, apple should have just ripped out any ability to track users in apps and told app developers to deal with it.
sebyx07 5y ago
96% of people hate ads. 4% miss clicked
SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
... and what's wrong with them? Likely they misunderstood or mis-clicked. 4% is level with the Lizardman constant, i.e. the threshold of noise in the data: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and-reptilian-muslim-climatologists-from-mars/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and...
- BoorishBears 5y ago
  Sometimes I click Allow intentionally I'm not advocating this for anyone, but yeah some apps don't take money or donations, ads are how they make money, so I shoot my tiny pistol at the tank that is sustainable app development and enable *targeted ads. Again, not saying you should, not saying you're bad if you don't. It's just I've been that guy with a free app who thought ads were the only way celebrating a 10 dollar ad revenue check, so sometimes for smaller apps I might opt in. It's silly but at the end of the day I'm getting tracked on all my other devices anyways so... - One day we need people to retrain their concept of value. Google's revenue per user is like 10 dollars a quarter. 40 dollars a year could replace their ad revenue stream with simple subscriptions. But people will not pay for email. People will not pay for world class maps. People will not pay for search engines Hell people won't pay 99 cents for an app with thousands of hours of development, but they will pay 99 cents for extra cheese. The way I see it is people pay with data because they won't pay otherwise. I don't know any developers who are thrilled about integrating crappy advertising SDKs that tend to crash, slow down startup times, and leave you at the mercy of a second business unit for your livelihood. They'd all much rather take your money directly. But people will take an ad laden half assed app over a tracking free one for a dollar any day.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
    It's a slippery slope though. First come the ads, then the tracking, then the microtargeting, then the targeted disinformation.
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    > I'm not advocating this for anyone, but yeah some apps don't take money or donations, ads are how they make money, so I shoot my tiny pistol at the tank that is sustainable app development and enable *targeted ads. Don't they earn only if people actually buy through the ads?
    - BoorishBears 5y ago
      Yeah, and if they're relevant I'll click Really it's a little pea shooter vs an immovable object, but I don't mind
bezoz 5y ago
I thought this setting was per app. Is it 4% across all apps?
throwaway3699 5y ago
Dupe (kind of): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27075180 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27075180
permo-w 5y ago
You can see why Apple have done this. a) it’s great PR. b) it may reduce the quantity of low-quality apps on the App Store c) most importantly by far, and almost certainly why they went through with it, this will push apps away from making money from Ads, and towards making money from payments, which Apple can then take happily take their 15-30% cut of and profit As usual, it’s Apple abusing their dominant market position to boost profits. In this case, I don’t mind because it’s a general win for consumer choice, but it’s a symptom of a larger problem.

34 points by andrewgioia 5y ago

I hope it gets to 0%.

The 4% figure is not surprising. My suggestion is everyone go into settings and turn off tracking across the board for every app. The new ad-tracking method seems like a concession to ad companies, IMO with only a 4% user uptake, apple should have just ripped out any ability to track users in apps and told app developers to deal with it.

sebyx07 5y ago

96% of people hate ads. 4% miss clicked

SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago

... and what's wrong with them? Likely they misunderstood or mis-clicked. 4% is level with the Lizardman constant, i.e. the threshold of noise in the data: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and-reptilian-muslim-climatologists-from-mars/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and...

BoorishBears 5y ago
Sometimes I click Allow intentionally I'm not advocating this for anyone, but yeah some apps don't take money or donations, ads are how they make money, so I shoot my tiny pistol at the tank that is sustainable app development and enable *targeted ads. Again, not saying you should, not saying you're bad if you don't. It's just I've been that guy with a free app who thought ads were the only way celebrating a 10 dollar ad revenue check, so sometimes for smaller apps I might opt in. It's silly but at the end of the day I'm getting tracked on all my other devices anyways so... - One day we need people to retrain their concept of value. Google's revenue per user is like 10 dollars a quarter. 40 dollars a year could replace their ad revenue stream with simple subscriptions. But people will not pay for email. People will not pay for world class maps. People will not pay for search engines Hell people won't pay 99 cents for an app with thousands of hours of development, but they will pay 99 cents for extra cheese. The way I see it is people pay with data because they won't pay otherwise. I don't know any developers who are thrilled about integrating crappy advertising SDKs that tend to crash, slow down startup times, and leave you at the mercy of a second business unit for your livelihood. They'd all much rather take your money directly. But people will take an ad laden half assed app over a tracking free one for a dollar any day.
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
  It's a slippery slope though. First come the ads, then the tracking, then the microtargeting, then the targeted disinformation.
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  > I'm not advocating this for anyone, but yeah some apps don't take money or donations, ads are how they make money, so I shoot my tiny pistol at the tank that is sustainable app development and enable *targeted ads. Don't they earn only if people actually buy through the ads?
  - BoorishBears 5y ago
    Yeah, and if they're relevant I'll click Really it's a little pea shooter vs an immovable object, but I don't mind

bezoz 5y ago

I thought this setting was per app. Is it 4% across all apps?

throwaway3699 5y ago

Dupe (kind of): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27075180 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27075180

permo-w 5y ago

You can see why Apple have done this. a) it’s great PR. b) it may reduce the quantity of low-quality apps on the App Store c) most importantly by far, and almost certainly why they went through with it, this will push apps away from making money from Ads, and towards making money from payments, which Apple can then take happily take their 15-30% cut of and profit As usual, it’s Apple abusing their dominant market position to boost profits. In this case, I don’t mind because it’s a general win for consumer choice, but it’s a symptom of a larger problem.