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From the top hit for IDFA (the wikipedia article): > Starting in iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, users are prompted to decide whether to opt-in or out of

by hedora 3y ago

From the top hit for IDFA (the wikipedia article): > Starting in iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, users are prompted to decide whether to opt-in or out of IDFA sharing before apps can query it. This choice can be altered in Settings.[2][3] In May, 2021, Verizon-owned advertisement analytics company Flurry Analytics reported that 96% of US users opted out of IDFA sharing.[4]

Timber-6539 3y ago
It's by default opt-out and am pretty sure the prompt doesn't apply for Apple's own apps. And since you brought out the opt-out option, one can also block Facebook's trackers through uBlock and/or DNS filters. The defaults are what matters. From the same Wikipedia article, > Users can opt-out of IDFA via the "Limit Ad Tracking" (LAT) setting (and an estimated 20% do). 80% users never change the defaults.
- isodev 3y ago
  On iOS tracking and access to personal information is always opt-in. It’s literally a modal alert asking if you want to give permission when an app requests to access the IDFA for the first time. Apple’s own apps don’t need to display the prompt because as per their privacy policy they don’t collect or use information for tracking purposes (which is also visible in the privacy labels of their apps in the App Store).
  - Timber-6539 3y ago
    > Apple’s own apps don’t need to display the prompt because as per their privacy policy they don’t collect or use information for tracking purposes (which is also visible in the privacy labels of their apps in the App Store). This is the privacy policy [0] of an example of their app, Apple News. I quote: "Advertising In order to deliver great content to you from leading publishers, Apple News is ad supported. If the Personalized Ads setting is on, Apple’s advertising platform may use information about your account, the topics and categories of stories you read, and publications you follow, subscribe to, or turn on notifications for to serve ads that are more relevant to you. We may also use information about your subscriptions to personalize your ads on the App Store." [0] https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-news/ https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-news/
    - isodev 3y ago
      The summary of each app's privacy practices is easier to see at a glance using the App Store Labels: https://www.apple.com/privacy/labels/ https://www.apple.com/privacy/labels/ In this case, you're referring to "Data Linked to You". "Data Linked to You" is based on the account you used to sign in to the News app + your activity within the news app - to create suggestions within the News app. This does not allow Apple to track you from the News app e.g. access the IDFA of the device, sharing it with third parties or other apps.
      - Timber-6539 3y ago
        It's made clear from the policy which I took the liberty to quote here that Apple News tracks your interests and uses it to personalize ads not only inside the same app but also Apple's App Store. Same policy states that whether you are logged in on the app or not, you will still receive ads. They claim they do not share this data with other third parties but they sure as hell use it for their own advertising ecosystem.
- vuln 3y ago
  > and am pretty sure Trust me bro.
- daft_pink 3y ago
  Using an opt-out is completely different from using third party ad blocking technology and is much more friendly. I can set the IDFA opt-out on my father's iPhone and nothing will break, but if I set him up with ublock or dns blocking and it starts breaking websites, he will be totally confused and not recognize what's happening. Also, using hacks to block tracking is not 100% reliable and allowing the user to have a specific option like Apple does is better for the user.
amelius 3y ago
> 96% of US users opted out of IDFA sharing If it's so clear that users don't want to be tracked online, why don't we just ban it altogether? It would solve a lot of problems.
- rchaud 3y ago
  Who has a better chance of getting a meeting with your political representatives to discuss this? You, or Google/Facebook?
- r00fus 3y ago
  Sure, but that requires legislation or executive action. Apple doing it unilaterally on their platform might invite anti-trust concerns.
- GeekyBear 3y ago
  > why don't we just ban it altogether? There has been a setting to turn the IDFA completely off for well over a decade. Previously, apps on iOS or Android had access to the unchanging hardware ID number of the device. > Apple notes that it will be phasing out access to the unique device identifier, or UDID, on iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads. This is a big deal, especially for any mobile ad networks, game networks or any app which relies on the UDID to identify users. https://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/apple-ios-5-phasing-out-udid/ https://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/apple-ios-5-phasing-out-ud... Apple replaced the hardware ID with a random number (the IDFA) that could be reset by the user at any time, or turned off completely. Google eventually followed suit, although any app that received the. READ_PHONE_STATE permission was immune to the protections. > READ_PHONE_STATE is one of the Android permissions categorized as dangerous. This is because it “allows read only access to phone state, including the phone number of the device, current cellular network information, the status of any ongoing calls, and a list of any Phone Accounts registered on the device”. ... it is often requested and misused by other types of applications that do not have any reason for needing it, including malware. https://file.scirp.org/Html/1-6101658_80235.htm https://file.scirp.org/Html/1-6101658_80235.htm The recent changes at Apple were to make the IDFA opt out by default and to track the permission to use it per app instead of per device.
- 3y ago

by hedora 3y ago

Timber-6539 3y ago

It's by default opt-out and am pretty sure the prompt doesn't apply for Apple's own apps. And since you brought out the opt-out option, one can also block Facebook's trackers through uBlock and/or DNS filters. The defaults are what matters. From the same Wikipedia article, > Users can opt-out of IDFA via the "Limit Ad Tracking" (LAT) setting (and an estimated 20% do). 80% users never change the defaults.

isodev 3y ago
On iOS tracking and access to personal information is always opt-in. It’s literally a modal alert asking if you want to give permission when an app requests to access the IDFA for the first time. Apple’s own apps don’t need to display the prompt because as per their privacy policy they don’t collect or use information for tracking purposes (which is also visible in the privacy labels of their apps in the App Store).
- Timber-6539 3y ago
  > Apple’s own apps don’t need to display the prompt because as per their privacy policy they don’t collect or use information for tracking purposes (which is also visible in the privacy labels of their apps in the App Store). This is the privacy policy [0] of an example of their app, Apple News. I quote: "Advertising In order to deliver great content to you from leading publishers, Apple News is ad supported. If the Personalized Ads setting is on, Apple’s advertising platform may use information about your account, the topics and categories of stories you read, and publications you follow, subscribe to, or turn on notifications for to serve ads that are more relevant to you. We may also use information about your subscriptions to personalize your ads on the App Store." [0] https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-news/ https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-news/
  - isodev 3y ago
    The summary of each app's privacy practices is easier to see at a glance using the App Store Labels: https://www.apple.com/privacy/labels/ https://www.apple.com/privacy/labels/ In this case, you're referring to "Data Linked to You". "Data Linked to You" is based on the account you used to sign in to the News app + your activity within the news app - to create suggestions within the News app. This does not allow Apple to track you from the News app e.g. access the IDFA of the device, sharing it with third parties or other apps.
    - Timber-6539 3y ago
      It's made clear from the policy which I took the liberty to quote here that Apple News tracks your interests and uses it to personalize ads not only inside the same app but also Apple's App Store. Same policy states that whether you are logged in on the app or not, you will still receive ads. They claim they do not share this data with other third parties but they sure as hell use it for their own advertising ecosystem.
vuln 3y ago
> and am pretty sure Trust me bro.
daft_pink 3y ago
Using an opt-out is completely different from using third party ad blocking technology and is much more friendly. I can set the IDFA opt-out on my father's iPhone and nothing will break, but if I set him up with ublock or dns blocking and it starts breaking websites, he will be totally confused and not recognize what's happening. Also, using hacks to block tracking is not 100% reliable and allowing the user to have a specific option like Apple does is better for the user.

amelius 3y ago

> 96% of US users opted out of IDFA sharing If it's so clear that users don't want to be tracked online, why don't we just ban it altogether? It would solve a lot of problems.

rchaud 3y ago
Who has a better chance of getting a meeting with your political representatives to discuss this? You, or Google/Facebook?
r00fus 3y ago
Sure, but that requires legislation or executive action. Apple doing it unilaterally on their platform might invite anti-trust concerns.
GeekyBear 3y ago
> why don't we just ban it altogether? There has been a setting to turn the IDFA completely off for well over a decade. Previously, apps on iOS or Android had access to the unchanging hardware ID number of the device. > Apple notes that it will be phasing out access to the unique device identifier, or UDID, on iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads. This is a big deal, especially for any mobile ad networks, game networks or any app which relies on the UDID to identify users. https://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/apple-ios-5-phasing-out-udid/ https://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/apple-ios-5-phasing-out-ud... Apple replaced the hardware ID with a random number (the IDFA) that could be reset by the user at any time, or turned off completely. Google eventually followed suit, although any app that received the. READ_PHONE_STATE permission was immune to the protections. > READ_PHONE_STATE is one of the Android permissions categorized as dangerous. This is because it “allows read only access to phone state, including the phone number of the device, current cellular network information, the status of any ongoing calls, and a list of any Phone Accounts registered on the device”. ... it is often requested and misused by other types of applications that do not have any reason for needing it, including malware. https://file.scirp.org/Html/1-6101658_80235.htm https://file.scirp.org/Html/1-6101658_80235.htm The recent changes at Apple were to make the IDFA opt out by default and to track the permission to use it per app instead of per device.
3y ago