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Apple is blocking conversion tracking for third parties. Think of this: 1.Fb shows an ad for angry birds 2. user installs the app 3. user opens the app and mak
by tehlike 4y ago
Apple is blocking conversion tracking for third parties.
Think of this:
1.Fb shows an ad for angry birds
2. user installs the app
3. user opens the app and makes a ping to fb to tell user with idfa xyz opened the app.
The problem is not that only apple gets (2), but it is that because it gets (2), it thinks it should be able to dictate how (3) happens. Since apple is the only one doing (2), it puts everyone else at a disadvantage.
And since apple doesn't have web ads business, it sees no problem killing that altogether through att as well.
- gardenhedge 4y agoCouldn't 3 just be done on the backend? User opens app, ping to app's own service which pings FB. Then apple can't block it
- vorpalhex 4y agoHow do you get the same ID from 1 to use in step 3? (You don't.)
- closeparen 4y agoJust curious: I know developers can have deep links preserved through the app store installation process, so that e.g. after you install the app it takes you to the article you were reading in Safari. What stops you from putting an identifier in there?
- johnthewise 4y agoApple. If you try to get around the restrictions, you may get banned, which means the end of your mobile business, so you don't risk it.
- tehlike 4y agoThere are possible technical work arounds to technical restrictions. There are policy restrictions that you won't be able to get around which is what att is.
- tehlike 4y agoIdfa. Which apple canned with att & skadnetwork.
- querulous 4y agothe mechanism isn't important. what apple restricts is access to any kind of cross app identifier like the idfa unless the user explicitly opts in. sketchier platforms use device fingerprinting but apple also forbids that under it's terms the only way to do cross app tracking in ios without the user opting in and without violating apple policy is via explicitly associating accounts across apps either via oauth or some kind of account linking
- mvanbaak 4y agoAnd how is this a problem? As user i like the idea that i can select where and when i want this tracking to take place
- tehlike 4y agoApple also restricts what app developer can offer to people who don't agree to tracking. Imagine if you are less monetizable user, in theory, app should be able to restrict what you can do in the app. It's a business transaction after all But apple gets a say in this too. Also apple uses it's app store moat to restrict tracking on websites too, similarly.
- kalleboo 4y ago> Apple also restricts what app developer can offer to people who don't agree to tracking. To be fair, so does the GDPR which Apple is subject to
- tehlike 4y agoCouple things there: 1. Gdpr is eu market more or less. 2. There is no law dictating how consent should look like (to the font color/size level). 3. Apples data is first party, massive difference.
- cma 4y agoUp the thread someone claims Apple calls it "personalization" when they ask you to opt in to it from them but "tracking" when an app asks you to opt in to the same thing.
- jmalicki 4y agoMeta is already doing this https://developers.facebook.com/docs/marketing-api/conversions-api/ https://developers.facebook.com/docs/marketing-api/conversio... Matching the ad to the user is just more difficult as it requires more in the way of user signups, as opposed to e.g. cookie-based tracking which is more ubiquitous and requires less integration.
- celestialcheese 4y agoYup - all web advertising is moving to first-party cookies and domains for pixels.
- john2x 4y agoIs that a good outcome for the general public?
- tremon 4y agoFor the general public it makes no difference. For the privacy-conscious power user, it means 3rd-party blocking no longer works (unless you unmask the 3rd parties by resolving CNAMEs before applying the rules).
- jmalicki 4y agoThe Facebook conversions API is worse.... Rather than a pixel the website backend can call out to Facebook for better results (for the website), no pixel to block.
- whimsicalism 4y agoThe enforcement is mostly legal, not technical.
- ec109685 4y agoApple has SKAdNetwork to track app conversions in a privacy centric way. E.g. Google Ad network is integrated with it: https://developers.google.com/authorized-buyers/rtb/skadnetwork https://developers.google.com/authorized-buyers/rtb/skadnetw...
- tehlike 4y agoIt is workable, but apple still gets the secret sauce that's personal data. Apple can personalize the ads better, and measure performance better.