Users must allow tracking in iOS from spring

Users of iPhones and iPads will have to give permissions to apps from spring before they can track them. The change has been months in the making, and the feature is in the next beta of iOS, tvOS, and iPadOS.

After beta, the feature will be live in a stable release in the spring, Apple says. The feature comes in addition to the ‘privacy labels’ that are already live. It concerns a request for permission, as has been in iOS for years for use of, among other things, the camera, microphone or location. The difference is that it now concerns a specific permission for tracking.

Apps use tracking to build a profile of people by combining data from all kinds of apps, so that more targeted advertisements are possible. It is now possible via the Settings to ask apps not to do tracking, but until now apps did not have to ask for permission to turn on tracking.

Asking permission should have been in iOS earlier. Apple was aiming for early this year. That was already a delay compared to the original schedule. Apple wanted to give developers more time to make “necessary changes” to their apps.