iPhone app tracking apparently continues despite ban

iOS 14.5 gave iPhones a feature to prevent app tracking of all programs. Every app must now explicitly ask for permission to track when it is installed or after an update. But even if you prohibit tracking, data is apparently still collected.

iPhone app tracking with loophole

Advertising companies such as Facebook and Snap are apparently given a loophole in iOS that allows data to continue to be collected even if users* explicitly forbid it. As the Financial Times reports, data may continue to be collected. At least if it is submitted in anonymized and aggregated form.

In doing so, the advertising companies cite an interpretation of Apple’s too loosely worded privacy policy, which prohibits the identification of individual devices. However, it is still possible to capture signals at the group level, group users’ behavior and thus play out targeted personalized advertising, they continue.

Apple currently simply accepts this circumstance, but it is unclear whether the company will continue to approve this practice of advertising companies. The criticism is that Apple explicitly states in its own advertising that the rejection of tracking by the user ends all advertising tracking – which is obviously not the case.

Tracking without unique identification

Since the tracking ban was introduced with iOS 14.5 in the spring, advertising companies have been looking for other ways to play personalized ads without unique device identification.

Even without tracking consent, many apps rely on analytics and advertising services. With iOS 15.2, there will be a new app privacy report that reveals which domains apps contact. Apple’s tracking ban, on the other hand, explicitly refers only to cross-vendor tracking.

Individual providers can therefore continue to collect bundled user behavior for advertising purposes. According to reports from Facebook, the iPhone tracking ban caused a drop in revenue of around $10 billion for the social media company. Since then, other companies have also complained about poorer accessibility to their target group and thus a significant drop in new customers.