On April 26, Apple released a new update for the iPhone and iPad operating systems that contains a major privacy change. With the new version of the operating systems, iOS 14.5 and iPad OS 14.5, it will be possible to prevent applications from tracking their activities on the Internet, hiding information used to show personalized advertisements.
The new feature forces app developers to receive user permission to access their IDFA (ID for Advertisers), a random code that Apple associates with each device. Although it does not allow to directly trace the identity of an individual user, the IDFA can be used to track his activities through applications and thus customize the advertisements offered to the user, based on his tastes and the things he has done. online. It is the mechanism by which similar advertisements are displayed in different applications, for example related to the purchase of a pair of shoes that we had previously searched online.
Google is also working on a similar feature on its Android operating system, according to various rumors that have appeared in the specialized press.
This new feature should make it possible to better protect the privacy of users, and for this reason it has been positively received by the organizations that deal with it. Instead, it has been heavily criticized by Facebook, according to which it could make the current mechanisms for personalized advertising via apps almost completely useless.
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How it works
For users enrolled in the beta program, the function was already active before the update, but with iOS 14.5 its adoption has become official for everyone and app developers are forced to comply. The function can be activated in the “Privacy” section of the Settings, by going to “Tracking”.
The first command that appears is called “Request activity tracking”: if you uncheck it, then no app will be able to access the user's IDFA, which will not be tracked for advertisements that use the IDFA.
If, on the other hand, the “Request activity tracking” command is activated, then the user can decide which apps to allow tracking by selecting them one by one. Only apps that have requested permission to track the user using IDFA will appear in the list: if an app does not appear it is because it did not apply.
With the option enabled, moreover, when an app wants to use a user's IDFA, when it opens a pop-up window will appear asking whether or not to grant the app the possibility to perform the tracking. All the choices made can be changed in the Privacy-> Tracking menu.
In the last few hours, some users have reported on social networks that the new privacy functions seem not to work in certain limited cases. Some specialized sites have speculated that it may be a bug that will be fixed.
