Now that iOS 14.5 is available, app transparency on user tracking is mandatory. Developers will no longer be able to access the unique advertising identifier of your iPhoe, iPad or AppleTV without your express permission, and if you deny it, they will not be able to track you through apps and web pages to show you personalized ads based on the profile that they built on you (without you knowing).
If all this has left you a little perplexed, to explain it Apple has created a video on App Tracking Transparency (ATT) that you can see here (or on YouTube), explaining what these changes mean. “It's a feature that lets you choose,” says the voice in the video. "A choice in how apps use and share your data."
The video continues by describing the types of data apps have access to, such as location, age, health, shopping habits, and browsing history.
Apple says data collection can be useful for registering a race or allowing a local store to announce their discounts when nearby, but "some apps collect more data than necessary" by sharing it with other advertisers and data brokers.
Apple explains that some apps collect "thousands of user information" to create a digital profile which they then sell to others to target advertising and "predict and influence behaviors and decisions."
“Your information is for sale, you have become the product,” Apple says in the announcement, explaining why they developed the transparency feature of app tracking. "The choice you make is all yours."
For interest, we include here the [funny] video of Joanna Stern's interview with Craig Federighi on this very topic:
