Mozilla sample: 10 percent of smartphone users turn off ad-tracking

About 10 percent of smartphone users have turned off an ad tracking setting at some point. This is apparent from a sample that research agency Ipsos has done on behalf of browser builder Mozilla.

Of the 887 respondents with a smartphone, 84 had ever adjusted the institution, according to the results of the sample. The sample has a margin of error of about 5 percent due to the small size of the study group. Many smartphone users are not aware of the option’s existence. Of the users who know about it, a small minority have ever disabled it.

Mozilla calls on Apple to occasionally reset the IDFA – ID For Advertisers – to prevent the tracking of users over a longer period of time. The browser builder would think that fits with Apple’s focus on privacy. Resetting is now only possible manually under iOS. Disabling the Advertising ID is also possible under Android, provided the phone has Google services. Such identification numbers allow advertisers to track users across many apps and display personalized ads.

In iOS, you can disable tracking under Settings-Privacy-Advertising-Restrict Ad Tracking, while in Android it can be found under Settings-Google-Ads-Unsubscribe From Ads Personalization. Resetting the ID can be done under Android with an option above the slider to disable tracking, in iOS it is below.