Apple’s new privacy measures, which requires developers of iPhone and iPad apps to request permission from users to track their activity across other apps and website, are beginning to show up for some users of the iOS 14.4 beta.
A screenshot shared in MacRumors’ forums shows the NBA app requesting to track a user’s activity, with the customizable fine print indicating that the data will be used to provide users “a better and personalized ad experience.”
iOS 14.4 is expected to be released sometime after the beginning of 2021, and is already causing a public battle with Facebook, who claims Apple’s move will hurt small businesses, saying the move is “more about profit than privacy.” The social network has even gone as far as taking out full-page newspaper ads decrying Apple’s new privacy protections.
While Facebook has claimed it will force small businesses to turn to in-app subscription and other types of in-app revenue – which Apple would get a cut of – to make money.
However, many Facebook employees are not happy with their company’s barrage of public attacks over Apple’s new privacy measures. The employees are privately expressing their displeasure with the campaign in a series of messages on Facebook’s private message boards.
Users can also disable the option for apps to track them at all in the Privacy portion of the iOS 14 Settings app. Even if the user opts to turn this feature off, apps must still inform the user and ask for permission before tracking them across apps and websites owned by other parties. (Facebook will track users across the web, even when the Facebook website or app is closed.) This is a severe blow to the silent ad-related tracking that has become prevalent over the years.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year said the anti-ad tracking feature could cut the Audience Network Ad revenue companies earn through Facebook by as much as 50%.
