Apple is building in Safari click anonymization technology

Apple browser Safari is getting a feature to anonymize users’ ad clicks. A site and webshop still know that someone has bought something after clicking on a link, but can not determine who it is or continue to follow that person.

The function can be activated as a test in Safari Technology Preview 82+, Apple writes. The technique is called Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution. In it, Apple takes some measures to ensure that webshops and sites cannot find out who clicked on the link of an advertisement.

The browser stores on the user’s device whether a user has made a purchase after clicking on the ad. To do this, it first anonymizes the click on the ad and checks the pixel for tracking to see which site the user came from.

Then, one to two days later, the browser will send a confirmation to the site where the advertisement was placed that the user has made a purchase as a result of the advertisement, together with the necessary data for invoicing. This is done via a private window, even if the user is browsing in a regular window.

According to Apple, the technology allows sites to continue to offer advertisements and to continue to see whether they were effective, but it is impossible to build a profile of people who clicked on the ad.

It is unknown if and when the technology will come in the stable version of Safari. It is also unclear whether other browsers will also apply this technique.