Just 13% global iOS users allow apps to track to date: Report

New Delhi: After Apple introduced its app tracking transparency tool with iOS 14.5 update to give users better control over their privacy, only 13 per cent of global iOS users have allowed apps to track to date.

According to data compiled by mobile app analytics platform Flurry Analytics, only around 5 per cent of daily iOS users in the US allowed apps to track other apps.

Flurry Analytics, owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing aggregated insights across 2 billion mobile devices per month.

Until now, apps have been able to rely on Apple’s Identifier for Advertiser (IDFA) to track users for targeting and advertising purposes. 

With the launch of iOS 14.5, mobile apps now have to ask users who have upgraded to iOS 14.5 for permission to gather tracking data. 

“With opt-in rates expected to be low, this change is expected to create challenges for personalised advertising and attribution, impacting the $189 billion mobile advertising industry worldwide,” Flurry Analytics said in an update.

The Apple app tracking transparency tool requires apps to get users’ permission before tracking their data across other companies’ apps or websites for advertising purposes. 

Almost 10,000 iOS apps have adopted permission prompts to conform with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) less than a week after the feature rolled out, another report said earlier this month.

Citing its analytics, app data and analysis firm AppFigures said roughly 10,000 apps on the iOS App Store have enabled permission requests to track user Identification for Developer (IDFA) tags in line with Apple’s new guidelines.