What is "Tracking Activity" and "Allow Tracking" on iPhone? How to check and change settings ｜ TIME & SPACE by KDDI

Recently, when I was working with my iPhone, I got a pop-up saying "Do you want to allow tracking of your activity across other companies' apps and websites?" There are two options: [Request App not to track] and [Allow].

What is "tracking" in the first place and why did this pop-up come out? So, I will explain what this is and what the difference is between permitting and not permitting.

Tracking is the act of tracking user behavior. Not limited to smartphones, it is also widely used in web advertisements and apps, collecting information that identifies individuals and their devices, information such as which website you were browsing, targeting advertisements and measuring the effectiveness of advertisements, etc. It is used in.

For example, after searching the Internet for a product you are interested in, many people have experienced that when you display a site that is not related to it, the advertisement for the product you searched for is displayed. right. This is called targeted advertising, and it is displayed based on the tracked information.

There are merits for users, such as the difficulty of displaying advertisements that they are not interested in, and it is hard to say that tracking is good or bad. However, some people may not feel good about getting information without knowing it.

So, starting with iOS 14.5, users can specify whether to allow this tracking for each app. That's why the pop-up "Do you want to allow tracking of your activity across other companies' apps and websites?" Is now displayed.

What kind of information does each app track in the first place? In fact, it's easy to check.

When you open the page of the app you want to check in the App Store, there is an item called [App Privacy] at the bottom. The "data used to track users" here is the information that the app is tracking.

For example, on Twitter, you can see that [Purchase], [Contact information], [Browsing history], [Usage data], [Location information], [User content], and [ID] are collected for tracking purposes. Tap the Data used for user tracking field to see a brief description of each item.

What is the difference between this tracking, with and without permission? Here is a brief description of the advantages / disadvantages of each.

Advantages: Advertisements of interest are more likely to be displayed Disadvantages: Some apps and services try to collect more information than necessary.

Advantages: User information is not collected, and privacy can be relieved. Disadvantages: It is easier to display advertisements that you are not interested in.

If you allow an app or service to track, you can collect information such as the user's interests, so targeted advertising will be displayed and its effectiveness will be measured. Some apps and services try to collect more information than necessary, so be sure to check what kind of information you collect if you allow it.

On the other hand, if you don't allow tracking, your information will not be collected, but the ads themselves, such as websites and apps, will not disappear. Because you can't track and targeting ads aren't available, you may continue to see ads that aren't relevant to you or that you're not interested in. You may not care if you see an ad that you are more or less interested in, but you may find it unpleasant if you see an ad that you are not interested in at all.

You can change it later by selecting either Allow or Request App to not track when you are prompted to allow tracking.

From "Settings" ▶ [Privacy] ▶ [Tracking], you can select permission / non-permission for each app. It is on (green) and tracking is allowed.

You can also turn off the tracking request itself in bulk instead of setting it for each app.

Just turn off Allow tracking requests from apps at the top of Settings ▶ Privacy ▶ Tracking. At this time, if there is an application that has already permitted tracking, the selection of whether to continue tracking or stop tracking is displayed. If you want to stop tracking for all apps, select [Request apps to stop tracking].

If you turn off Allow tracking requests from apps, you will no longer be notified to request tracking for each app, and all will be disallowed. Even in this case, it is possible to allow each app later in the previous procedure.

Whether or not to allow tracking depends on the individual's thinking. You can use them properly, such as allowing only frequently used apps and not using them only occasionally, or not for temporarily added apps. Please refer to this article and use it in a way that suits you.