Apple Will Remove Apps That Track Users Without Opt-In Permission

(Video length 00:01:04)

Apple (AAPL) has picked a huge fight with the advertising industry and ad-supported app developers. Starting in 2021, Apple will remove apps from its App Store that don’t comply with its App Tracking Transparency guidelines. That’s ATT in Apple-speak, and it specifies that users must give opt-in permission to be tracked.

This is on-brand and on-strategy for Apple. They’re all about privacy (or so they say), but this will be a serious hardship for ad-supported apps: no ad-targeting, no location sharing, no user info exchange. This will hit the advertising industry hard enough to knock it back to the stone age. Apple hasn’t formally set a date, but look for it in Q1. Are you going to opt in to being tracked? To take the survey and share your comments below:
 

• I will opt in to Apple in-app advertising.*
  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree
  • Prefer not to answer or question does not apply to me
• I am interested in participating in a workshop focused on "how to" ad-targeting and ad-measurement in a post-cookie, opt-in world.*
  • Yes
  • No