Have you ever noticed that you were talking, browsing about some specific thing to buy on the mobile phone and all of a sudden you start seeing ads in your search engine, websites you visit, smart tv, mobile apps and so on. That’s happening due to the loose privacy settings and ad technologies building and sharing your profile through cookies, IDFA or similar identifier. This has led to explosive growth of internet age companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon etc. With concerns from consumer advocacy groups and lawmakers around the world, there have been changes proposed in this space and this article will demystify those for you and what you need to know specially if you are an Apple aficionado.
Internet and specifically mobile usage has exploded in the last few years. 4.66 billion or 60% of the world’s population has access to the internet. 5.22 billion or 66.6% of the world’s population has a phone.
Social and Gaming Apps have been one of the biggest contributors of users using the mobile. Users provide their personal data such as age, gender, date of birth to most of the apps that they download and use. Apps also collect the usage metrics, location metrics and other useful metrics in order to make the App and their product better.
However, not all data that is collected is used for improving the product. Apps use a unique identifier called IDFA in Apple iOS and Google Advertising ID in Android devices across the apps. As users open and navigate through various apps, a user profile against this unique ID is built. This user profile is what gets shared through a data broker or Data Management Platform. This helps the Ad platforms to show targeted Ads to a user. In simple terms, your personal data is pieced together, shared, aggregated, and used in real-time auctions, fueling a $227 billion-a-year industry.
Good news is Apple, with it’s new release of iOS 14.5 any day now, will take a major step to protect users’ privacy within the app ecosystem
As a complex and growing set of entities access, track, and monetize personal consumer data, Apple is introducing two new features aimed at providing users with increased transparency, visibility, and choice so that they can make informed choices and exert greater control over their privacy.
App Tracking Transparency will require apps to get the user’s permission before tracking their data across apps or websites owned by other companies. App Tracking Transparency will require apps to get the user’s permission before tracking their data across apps or websites owned by other companies. Any App who shares user data or uses data for advertising will be required to show a popup and get user consent before they can do so. With about 70% users predicted to opt out of data sharing, this will result in loss of at least 50% Ad revenue for Apps that heavily rely on Ads for monetization.
This is just the beginning of data privacy as Chrome, Android and other OS and platforms will enforce stricter rules that help users take control of their data.
References
28 Mobile App Statistics to know
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Article contributed by Santosh Ankola, ASEI SiliconValley
