YOUR iPhone has a pop-up that cost social media giants like Facebook $ 10 billion this year.
Introduced in April, the message appears when you open a new iOS app and asks whether you want to allow or block the tracking of your activities by the app.
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Apple launched a new pop-up earlier this year that appears when you open iOS apps that allows you to turn off ad trackingPhoto credit: Apple
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Apple’s shift in attitude towards iPhone app tracking has cost social media giants like Facebook $ 10 billion this yearPhoto credit: Getty
It prevents apps from tracking users when they log out. Facebook has blown the step, claiming it harms small businesses.
It’s part of a change to Apple’s privacy policy to prevent app developers from sucking up your data in order to target you with ads.
According to the Financial Times, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all took a hit after Apple changed its privacy practices.
The newspaper reported this week that the companies had lost $ 9.85 billion in revenue after adopting the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy.
That’s because they rely on app tracking to target the ads that are making them money. The loss made a big dent in their coffers.
According to FT, Facebook has lost the most money “in absolute terms” because of its huge size compared to other social platforms.
Snap did “worst as a percentage of its business” because its advertising is largely smartphone-tied and few users access its desktop platform.
“Some of the hardest hit platforms – Facebook in particular – have to rebuild their machines from scratch because of ATT,” Adtech consultant Eric Seufert told FT.
“I am convinced that building a new infrastructure will take at least a year. New tools and frameworks must be developed from the ground up and extensively tested before they are made available to a large number of users. “
How to turn off ad tracking
The new system is very simple.
When you load an app for the first time after updating, you will see a pop-up.
This notification appears when the app you’re using wants to track your activity across other apps and websites.
In the pop-up, the app manufacturer has the opportunity to explain why they want to follow you.
And then you can either allow tracking or ask the app not to virtually follow you.
If you change your mind later, you can change your choices.
Just go into your iPhone settings and find the app you want to tweak, then change your choices.
If the pop-up doesn’t appear, it means the app hasn’t tried to assign you a tracking ID since the iOS 14.5 update.
You can also block all apps from asking completely.
Just go to Settings> Privacy> Tracking and toggle Allow apps to allow tracking requests to the off position.
This means that no app can ask for your permission and will block it.
Of course, rogue apps can find ways to track you down without your permission.
Never give your iPhone to anyone without doing the “triple-tap” trick first
In other news, Facebook has announced that it will change its name to “Meta”.
The company is working to create lifelike avatars for its users that they can control in a virtual world called “Metaverse”.
Apple’s system of revealing scary iPhone apps that track your location or spy on your browsing history is finally here.
And astronomers claim to have discovered the first known planet outside the Milky Way.
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