Apple Could Block Apps That Don’t Comply With Its App Tracking Transparency Feature

Apple on Tuesday threatened to remove mobile apps from the App Store if they don’t comply with its upcoming privacy feature named App Tracking Transparency which will allow iOS users to prevent advertisers from tracking their activities across mobile apps and websites, as reported by Reuters.

Tech giant Apple on June 22 hosted the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) to share announce its latest product software updates and it shared the news that millions of people around the world were afraid of hearing: the end of IDFA which allows them to track iOS users in a more precise way.

In fact: Apple didn’t directly kill the IDFA, but paved the way for it. The company announced at WWDC 2020 that, with iOS 14, developers would be required to ask users permission to track their activity and summarize their privacy info for more transparency. 

Also Read: Is The End of Apple’s IDFA Near?

After the announcement of the decision which is expected to impact an $80 billion industry, advertisers and tech companies including Facebook criticized Apple saying that it could harm smaller developers disproportionately. 

Following the critics, Apple delayed the privacy features in iOS 14 , saying that the enforcement of the new features will take place starting in early 2021. 

As we’re approaching the end of this year, Apple on Thursday threatened to remove the apps that don’t meet its App Tracking Transparency requirements. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering said that users should know when they are being tracked across different apps and websites.

”Early next year, we’ll begin requiring all apps that want to do that to obtain their users’ explicit permission, and developers who fail to meet that standard can have their apps taken down from the App Store,” he said at the European Data Protection and Privacy Conference.

As we mentioned above, Apple’s new privacy feature will require developers to ask for user permission to track their activities across apps and websites. It will be done via a push notification which looks like this:

In July, a group of European digital advertising associations, some of which are backed by Google and Facebook, criticized Apple’s decision saying that many users will refuse to give permission. 

”When invasive tracking is your business model, you tend not to welcome transparency and customer choice,” Federighi said and rejected their criticism. “We need the world to see those arguments for what they are: a brazen attempt to maintain the privacy-invasive status quo.”

”Getting this right will take time, collaboration, listening — and true partnership across the entire technology ecosystem. But we believe the result will be transformative.” he added.

What do you think?