Some iOS users continue to be tracked by Facebook and Snapchat

According to a recent report it appears that some iOS users continue to be tracked by Facebook e Snapchat despite having disabled app tracking. Let’s find out all the details together.

App tracking can be disabled on iOS: what’s up?

In May, Apple launched its feature App Tracking Transparency. This new feature allows users to not be tracked through apps and websites for advertising purposes. Seven months after Apple introduced the feature, companies like Snapchat and Facebook have allegedly been allowed to continue sharing user-level signals from iPhones, as long as the data is anonymize rather than linked to specific user profiles.

The Financial Times revealed that Apple’s stance is the result of “an unacknowledged change that allows companies to follow a much freer interpretation of its controversial privacy policy.” Apple told developers that “they cannot extract data from a device for the purpose of uniquely identifying it.” However, some developers have misinterpreted this claim. According to them they can still observe “signals” and behaviors from user groups, still showing tailored ads.

Apple has not explicitly approved these techniques. However they do allow third parties to track and analyze user groups, even if they have not consented to the tracking. Also, Apple reportedly keep trusting apps to collect data. However, some of this information ends up in the hands of advertisers.

Apple told Snapchat investors that the company plans to share the data of its 306 million users, including those that ask the app not to track. In this way, advertisers can get “a more complete and real-time view” of the success of advertising campaigns.

Likewise, Facebook is embarking on a “multi-year effort” to rebuild the advertising infrastructure “using more aggregated or anonymized data,” according to the company’s chief of operations.

Despite the pressure on Apple, there have been no improvements or changes on this front.