14 DAY TRIAL // As you may have heard, Apple has switched user tracking back on in iOS 6. Based on new standards, the IFA/IDFA tracking technology doesn’t identify you as a person to advertisers, and it does a great job at serving just the right ads to just the right people. But what if someone decides to switch it off?
“It's a really pretty elegant, simple solution,” said Mobile Theory CEO Scott Swanson, when asked about the new setting. “The biggest thing we're excited about is that it's on by default, so we expect most people will leave it on.”
But some users are paranoid. Put more mildly, some people are simply skeptical about these kinds of practices. Which is why they’d definitely appreciate an On/Off switch to the monkey business. Say no more. We’ve got you covered.
1. Unlock your iPhone’s / iPad’s screen and tap Settings (you know, the grey icon with the gears);
2. Tap General (not Privacy, though it should have been placed there);
3. Once in the General settings, tap About;
4. In About, scroll all the way down to the bottom until you see Advertising. Tap it;
5. In Advertising, you’ll find a single On/Off toggle that’s set to Off by default. It’s admittedly confusing, because Off means IFA is tracking you, whereas On means it isn’t. As such, you need to “Limit Ad Tracking” by setting it to “On.”
That’s it! The gallery below shows all the five steps in their appropriate order. Some details were blurred out as they were private (to the actual owner of the phone used to make the guide).
And now for a word of reassurance.
[Editor's note]
Even if you are concerned about companies tracking your phone, the new technologies set in place to do this so that advertisers can make a living are said to be far less intrusive than the ones based on unique device identifiers (UDIDs).
According to Business Insider, “IFA doesn't identify you as a person to advertisers.” However, according to the Mobile Theory CEO, it does provide advertisers with "a really meaningful inference of behavior.”
