Why iOS 14.5 is Apple’s biggest privacy update yet | WIRED UK

Apple’s big iPhone software updates usually run like clockwork – headline features are added to iOS each autumn when the software is first released. Each subsequent update usually makes minor improvements, such as squashing bugs and fixing newly discovered security flaws. The iOS 14.5 update is different.

The new iOS code introduces Apple’s, much-delayed, new controls on the ways that apps can track people. For the first time, people will have to opt-in to allow apps they’ve downloaded to track their activity.

The changes could potentially upend how the murky online advertising industry works – Facebook is very unhappy about them – but they also give people unprecedented control over how their behaviour is tracked. Apple’s changes, which also apply to iPad OS 14.5 and tvOS 14.5, come at a time when big tech and the advertising industry are facing a day of reckoning over their abuse of personal data.

So what’s changing in iOS 14.5?

The big change you will see is an iPhone or iPad popup that asks you to decide if the app you’re using can track your behaviour across the other apps you use. “Allow ‘Facebook’ to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites?” reads the example pop-up Apple has shared.

The popup is followed by two options – appearing first: ‘Ask App not to Track’ and then underneath this ‘Allow’. Selecting the first option means apps will not be able to track your behaviour across other apps you’ve installed on your device. This stops data from being shared with advertisers and third-party data brokers.

But what’s really changing?

The big change, which you won’t see, comes under the hood. It’s called App Tracking Transparency and is all to do with a string of numbers known as the identifier for advertisers (IDFA). Each iPhone that’s shipped comes with its own identifier that provides advertisers with aggregate data about your interests.

The IDFA, which was introduced in 2013, is a bit like the third-party cookies that are used in web browsers but work across all apps and services on a device – this is because not all apps use browsers and existing cookies tracking tech won’t work inside them. Google has its own version of the identifier, known as the Google Advertising ID, that’s used on Android phones and was introduced in 2014.

Both these identifiers work in a similar way: they can allow advertisers to track clicks, downloads and purchases within mobile apps. This information can then be used by advertisers and ad technology companies to show you personalised ads in the apps you use. The IDFA can let an advertiser know if the ads they’re paying to put in front of your eyeballs are effective in driving clicks and ultimately sales.