The upcoming iOS 14.5 will include several big new features, but one significant addition that has been making the headlines several times lately is called App Tracking Transparency.
With this new capability, Apple is making it harder for apps to track users across other apps and websites, as they’ll be provided with a notification to see permission before doing this.
Needless to say, the app tracking changes have caused plenty of criticism from companies like Facebook, which warned that some companies rely on the information they received for personalized ads.
Tim Cook, however, said in an interview with Kara Swisher that what App Tracking Transparency does is put users in control of their data, as they’re the ones to decide whether they want to be tracked across apps and websites or not.
“What [App Tracking Transparency] tries to get at is companies that are taking advantage of tracking you across apps of other companies and therefore putting together an entire profile of what you're thinking, what you're doing, surveilling you across the web 24/7,” he said.
“They'll see a simple pop-up that basically prompts them to answer the question, are they OK with being tracked or not? If they are, things move on. If they're not, then the tracking is turned off.”
iOS 14.5 coming later this month
Insisting on privacy, Cook emphasized the tech world has reached a point where we can consider there’s a crisis over users’ data, and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
“Generally speaking, I think privacy is one of the top issues of the 21st century, and I think we're in a crisis. Years ago, I thought companies would regulate themselves and sort of get better. I no longer believe that. And I'm not generally somebody that is keen on regulation, but I think that regulation is required,” he said.
iOS 14.5 is projected to land later this month for the iPhone 6s and newer.