Statistics show that most iPhone users block the tracking

May 7, 2021 13:57 GMT  ·  By

Apple has released the App Tracking Transparency policy with the debut of iOS 14.5 a few weeks ago, and since then they are basically allowed to choose whether they want or not to let apps track them across other apps and websites.

And statistics provided by Flurry Analytics, whose code is being used in over 1 million apps, show that few people actually agree to be tracked.

In other words, most people block apps from tracking them, so the debut of Apple’s new feature is already making an impact in terms of privacy.

More specifically, since the debut of the new iPhone feature, the percentage of people allowing app tracking hasn’t exceeded 12 percent, while in the United States, the numbers are even more surprising. Only some 2 to 4 percent of the iPhone users want to be tracked and allow apps to do this on the latest iPhone operating system version.

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“Until now, apps have been able to rely on Apple’s Identifier for Advertiser (IDFA) to track users for targeting and advertising purposes. With the launch of iOS 14.5 this week, mobile apps now have to ask users who have upgraded to iOS 14.5 for permission to gather tracking data. With opt-in rates expected to be low, this change is expected to create challenges for personalized advertising and attribution, impacting the $189 billion mobile advertising industry worldwide,” the research firm explains.

Apple has repeatedly insisted that this new feature is only supposed to protect users, giving them more control over their privacy, despite all the criticism coming from other companies, such as Facebook.

The social network, for example, has turned to new prompts shown in the app that recommend users to enable tracking because otherwise, the official Facebook and Instagram clients might no longer be free.