IFA (identifier for advertisers) does not identify you personally

Oct 12, 2012 09:13 GMT  ·  By

Web advertisers are signaling a change in iOS 6, Apple’s latest major version of the mobile operating system powering iPhones and iPads worldwide. Users’ devices are being tracked again, using uniquely-assigned numbering, so that advertisers can serve up ads on par with individual user’ interests.

“It's a really pretty elegant, simple solution,” says Mobile Theory CEO Scott Swanson, referring to a sneaky setting in iOS 6 which seemingly keeps users from switching off this type of tracking.

Although such a setting would normally be listed under Privacy, the on/off toggle is actually located under Settings -> General -> Advertising (by scrolling all the way to the bottom).

“The biggest thing we're excited about is that it's on by default, so we expect most people will leave it on,” Swanson is quoted as saying in a Business Insider report.

However, the publication assures us that Apple is now using a new tracking technology called IFA or IDFA, which replaces the UDID-based method that could lead to a user’s personal life getting exposed.

Short for “identifier for advertisers,” IFA generates a random, anonymous number that is then assigned to a user and their device as a temporary beacon for serving just the right ads. It’s similar to the cookies stored by your computer’s web browser.

Business Insider explains it best:

“When you look at an app, or browse the web, your presence generates a call for an ad. The publisher's site that you're looking at then passes the IFA to the ad server. The advertiser is then able to know that a specific iPhone user is looking at a specific publication and can serve an ad targeting that user. IFA becomes particularly useful, for instance, if an ad server notices that a particular IFA is looking at a lot of different car sites. Perhaps that user is interested in buying a new car. They'll likely start seeing a lot of car ads on their iPhone.”

The benefits of using this technology go even farther, allowing advertisers to track the user all the way to "conversion." IFA will tell them whether their ads actually convinced people to download apps and buy merchandise / services.