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Popular apps send large amounts of device data to advertising companies without user consent.
Some popular iPhone apps use secret techniques to uniquely identify users, even if they have not given tracking permission. The data collected by apps includes everything from the date the device was last rebooted to the display brightness settings.
App Tracking is based on a unique identifier assigned by Apple to each device. The identifier does not reveal any details about the user, but allows applications to see, for example, that the user of the iOS device 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 has visited an online electronics store and therefore can be a good target for advertising gadgets. The identifier also allows applications to see that the user of iOS device 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 was shown an advertisement for a specific product on a specific site, after which he visited the seller's site and bought that product, which means that the ad was effective.
With a new Apple policy called App Tracking Transparency, app developers must ask users for permission to track their activity. If the user has not given such permission (this is most often the case), the application cannot use App Tracking.
The advertising industry was at first confused, but quickly found workarounds. In particular, certain types of digital fingerprints have come to be used to track users.
With each visit to the site, the browser transmits a large amount of data intended for the correct display of the site on the device. So, the display of the site on the iMac and on the iPhone are different. Apple closed that loophole too, but apps still found ways to track users.
According to The Washington Post, an analysis of a number of popular iPhone apps has shown that they are sending advertising companies crazy amounts of data about users' devices.
For example, when a user opens the Subway Surfers mobile game, the App Tracking Transparency policy prompts a window asking for tracking permission. The user selects "No", and it would seem that the application can no longer track his actions. But this is where the fun begins.
Subway Surfers is starting to send very specific data points about a user's device to third-party advertising company Chartboost 29, including Internet address, free memory, volume level, and even battery level. This data allows you to identify the iPhone and, possibly, know what other applications are used on it and what kind of advertising will be effective.
In a joint study, Lockdown and The Washington Post found at least three popular iPhone games that send large amounts of identifying information to advertising companies, even if the user has not given permission to track. The developers were unable to explain to the researchers why their applications collect data and send it to advertising companies.
Some popular iPhone apps use secret techniques to uniquely identify users, even if they have not given tracking permission. The data collected by apps includes everything from the date the device was last rebooted to the display brightness settings.
App Tracking is based on a unique identifier assigned by Apple to each device. The identifier does not reveal any details about the user, but allows applications to see, for example, that the user of the iOS device 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 has visited an online electronics store and therefore can be a good target for advertising gadgets. The identifier also allows applications to see that the user of iOS device 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 was shown an advertisement for a specific product on a specific site, after which he visited the seller's site and bought that product, which means that the ad was effective.
With a new Apple policy called App Tracking Transparency, app developers must ask users for permission to track their activity. If the user has not given such permission (this is most often the case), the application cannot use App Tracking.
The advertising industry was at first confused, but quickly found workarounds. In particular, certain types of digital fingerprints have come to be used to track users.
With each visit to the site, the browser transmits a large amount of data intended for the correct display of the site on the device. So, the display of the site on the iMac and on the iPhone are different. Apple closed that loophole too, but apps still found ways to track users.
According to The Washington Post, an analysis of a number of popular iPhone apps has shown that they are sending advertising companies crazy amounts of data about users' devices.
For example, when a user opens the Subway Surfers mobile game, the App Tracking Transparency policy prompts a window asking for tracking permission. The user selects "No", and it would seem that the application can no longer track his actions. But this is where the fun begins.
Subway Surfers is starting to send very specific data points about a user's device to third-party advertising company Chartboost 29, including Internet address, free memory, volume level, and even battery level. This data allows you to identify the iPhone and, possibly, know what other applications are used on it and what kind of advertising will be effective.
In a joint study, Lockdown and The Washington Post found at least three popular iPhone games that send large amounts of identifying information to advertising companies, even if the user has not given permission to track. The developers were unable to explain to the researchers why their applications collect data and send it to advertising companies.
