The new iOS update to 14.5 came out yesterday and inaugurated the policy of Transparency in Tracking in Apps – the one in which the Apple would force developers to give users control over trackers. The feature, which is a refined option from iOS 14, allows users to fine-tune which apps collect their data and is available on all iPhones from the 6 onwards. But that raises the question: what exactly does “do not track” mean?

From now on, the average user is likely to come across the same permission screen, unless of course they have made their decision (or if they have found in a certain bug, which has not yet been confirmed). The message, “allow the app to track your activities across apps and websites of other companies,” leads to two options – the first, “ask the app not to track,” and the second, “allow.”

If you choose to allow sharing, things continue as usual: the app will collect your browsing and usage data from other apps or websites, and share it with other companies. In practice, this means that they can share or sell your data to advertising networks. Nothing new. It's the other option that changes, and that's the topic of our post.

Asking Do Not Track does not mean guaranteeing

When you choose the “ask the app not to track” option, what happens is that your phone will not give access to your data on the device. This especially avoids the IDFA, the Identifier for Advertising, which is a line of code programmed to collect data across multiple apps. The Apple blocks IDFA – and that’s it.

The thing is, this doesn’t mean that other apps can’t bypass tracking and collect your data in other ways. Not surprisingly, Chinese advertising companies are already working to circumvent anti-tracking mechanisms. with CAID, and other ways of obtaining data may emerge. Google, for example, uses the FLoC so as not to collect personal identifiers on the one hand, but it can identify users by cross-referencing them with other browsing data.

In the end, the term “ask” functions more as a term of authorization than a guarantee. Which is not to say that the Apple consent to the undue access of your data. By choosing to “ask not to track”, it is very clear that you do not accept the collection of your personal information. If this happens anyway, the least that Apple guarantees that apps are banned. The warning was given before the feature goes live, and they don't look like they'll back down from their decision.

Are you unsure about how to prevent apps from tracking you? Just check it out our tutorial.

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. 9 to 5 Mac