In total, it would be nine Chinese applications that would have managed to generate a user ID, despite Apple’s measures.
Since iOS 14.5, Apple has been working hard to keep users’ private data as private as possible. To do this, it has implemented anti-tracking (or App Tracking Transparency), preventing applications from collecting your data. When launched, the application should display a pop-up asking you whether or not you accept ad tracking. Concretely, the user must explicitly give his authorization to the developers so that they collect your data.
If you opt out of this collection, the app remains open and usable, but developers cannot access the IDFA, a unique identifier that iOS and iPadOS assigns to a user and allows their activity to be tracked between apps. But according to a report published by Ars Technicait would seem that the anti-tracking implemented by Apple is not as effective as expected.
“Overall, our findings suggest that while Apple’s changes make tracking individual users more difficult, they are motivating a countermovement and reinforcing the existing market power of gatekeeper companies with access to large amounts of first-party data”the study researchers said.
An identifier that tracks activity between apps
Nine iOS applications are said to have successfully bypassed this ban thanks to code stored in servers that generates a user ID, even with active anti-tracking. Applications would then be able to track the user’s “inter-app” activity. The Chinese Alibaba would be the supplier of said code, which would allow agencies to continue to collect data and send targeted .
According to the study, it would ultimately be 1,348 applications that would continue to use a tracking tool. A tool that is undermined by Apple’s anti-tracking, even if some continue to collect data under the nose of the user. However, there is very little doubt that Apple is not aware of the problem and that its engineers are not already on the warpath to find a solution.
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