Soon-to-launch iOS 14 is a momentous leap for iPhone privacy, but this week Facebook confirmed its Apple nightmare was even worse than previously thought.
Soon to launch iOS 14 is a momentous leap for iPhone privacy, but this week Facebook confirmed its … [+]
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It’s nearly September, which means the launch of Apple’s iOS 14 is almost here. The revamped version of Apple’s iOS operating system signals a momentous leap for iPhone privacy, but it’s also Facebook’s worst nightmare, the data-hungry social network confirmed this week.
In a blog titled “preparing our partners for iOS 14” Facebook admitted that Apple’s new privacy features would impact itself and its partners heavily. The problems for Facebook and its advertisers stem from the fact that iOS 14 signals the end of collecting iPhone identifiers for advertisers (IDFA), due to Apple’s strong measures to prevent services from tracking you across apps.
iOS 14 makes tracking opt-in only
From iOS 14, Apple requires people to actively opt in to ad tracking. Before being tracked you will receive a notification saying, “x would like permission to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies. Your data will be used to deliver personalized ads to you.”
Apple will allow you to choose between “Allow Tracking” or “Ask App Not To Track.”
Facebook says this will have a negative impact on businesses’ ability to market themselves and monetize through ads. In response, it announced, it will no longer collect the IDFA on its own apps on iOS 14 devices.
Apple and Facebook’s relationship goes from bad to worse
Earlier this month, I detailed how Facebook has met with its key advertising customers, gaming companies, to try and ease their concerns.
These iOS 14 changes affect Facebook’s Audience Network—its in-app advertising network for mobile apps. In a scathing attack on rival Apple, Facebook says: “Ultimately, despite our best efforts, Apple’s updates may render Audience Network so ineffective on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it on iOS 14.”
Apple and Facebook’s relationship has gone from bad to worse. Facebook continued its attack on Apple this week, telling Reuters that Apple rejected its attempt to tell users the iPhone maker would take a 30% cut of sales in a new online events feature. This apparently forced Facebook to remove the message to get the tool to users.
And a BuzzFeed article details how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a swing at Apple this week, calling the iPhone maker’s app store monopolistic and harmful to customers during a companywide meeting.
Apple’s iOS 14 serves a new wave of privacy minded users
Apple knows its users care about security and privacy, and this was reflected in all its marketing last year. In an era of mass data collection, “what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone,” is an attractive proposition.
And iOS 14 takes this attitude to the max, cutting down on ad tracking, and adding numerous security and privacy features. For example, for location privacy, Apple is offering new technology that gives you better control over whether you reveal your precise location to apps and services.
Jake Moore cybersecurity specialist at ESET says Facebook “will soon have to think about different revenue streams in preparation for a new wave of privacy-minded users.”
“Indirectly, Apple has dramatically shaken up Facebook’s business model with a new focus on privacy,” Moore explains. “It has created a knock on effect to Facebook and other businesses around the world who rely on collecting and sharing data—often unbeknownst to the users.”
However, he says iOS 14 is “likely to force people into thinking more about the risks in sharing their own data, and in time, help to protect them.”
There’s no doubt that Apple’s iOS 14 privacy features are good for users, but there is something else worth knowing. As the Verge’s Casey Newton points out, while Apple isn’t a big player in online advertising, it does have its own small business that personalizes ads shown in the App Store and on Apple News based on where users go and what they do in Apple’s apps.
“The company is applying separate rules for its own ad-personalization; to opt out, users must find an option in the iPhone’s settings,” Newton writes.
Even so, iOS 14 is certainly more secure and private than its predecessor, and more so than any other mobile operating system on the market. That’s got to count for something.
