iOS users vote no to Facebook app tracking

Flurry Analytics, an advertising analytics company, reports around 88 percent of iOS users worldwide have chosen not to allow apps to track them. There’s a daily update of numbers of Flurry’s website.

The number is higher in the US. There a mere four percent of iOS users allow tracking.

No wonder Facebook went on the offensive with a whingey, dishonest response to Apple’s move.

It’s worth remembering there are countries where switching off Facebook app tracking is not allowed by law. And others where authorities might treat users who opt out with suspicion.

Apple’s popular move

The only conclusion to draw is that Apple’s privacy move is popular with customers.

This is an area where Android phone makers will struggle to compete.

Google’s mobile operating system has tracking baked through its insides like the word Blackpool through a stick of seaside rock. That’s the main reason Google subsidises Android.

Presumably there are Android users who prefer not to be tracked. Switching to Apple and iOS is bothersome, but worth the effort if you prize privacy.

Transparency

Apple calls the new iOS feature App Tracking Transparency. When you open an app, a pop-up appears on screen. It asks if you want to allow the app to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites?

There are two choices. The first is “Ask App Not to Track”. The second choice is “Allow.”

If you take the first choice, Apple stops the app from using the code that identifies the device.

This is a string on letters and numbers. There is one per iPhone or iPad. It gives companies a unique identifier they can track as you move between apps and websites.

Apple then tells the app owner that you don’t want them to track you in any way. It sends a clear, unambiguous message.

It’s almost as clear and unambiguous as the message that 88 percent of users are unwilling to be surveillance fodder.