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It's a great step in the right direction that iOS 14.7.1 now forces apps to let the user know that it's tracking their activity, with a prompt such as this:

enter image description here

It says:

Track your activity across other companies' apps and websites

which is vague, and doesn't state what 'Allow' actually gives the app access to. For example, I am not sure if it will grant the app access to:

  • All Safari activity?
  • Search history and activity on other browsers (e.g. chrome)?
  • Activity on the current device only, or all devices?
  • All other apps on that device, or just some? (and if it's a subset, can I look up which ones?)
  • Past activity (e.g. search history), or just future activity?

Publicly available information is also vague

App Tracking Transparency lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites for ads or sharing with data brokers

and

and App Tracking Transparency lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites

this also does not give precise delineation between what is being allowed and not allowed.

Tracking occurs when information that identifies you or your device collected from an app is linked with information that identifies you or your device collected on apps, websites and other locations owned by third parties for the purposes of targeted advertising or advertising measurement, or when the information collected is shared with data brokers.

and links to a privacy info page that states:

including location, contact info, health info and more

But it too doesn't mention how to find which apps this prompt gives an app permission to share with, nor whether it allows sharing of all browser activity or just the activity on third party websites which share trackers with the app in question.

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  • There is a lot of documentation about this on Apple‘s and other websites, have you done some research there? What have you found and what remains unclear?
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 16:22
  • @nohillside updated
    – stevec
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 16:31
  • 2
    I'd assume everything is being tracked, because it probably is regardless of what anything/anyone says! 🤪 BBIW
    – user3439894
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 17:01
  • The screenshot you‘ve included is from DoorDash, this is about tracking within that app. Safari doesn’t play a role here.
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 17:40
  • @nohillside hmmm the prompt literally says "across other companies' apps and websites". Since safari is another company's app, that indicates that safari activity could indeed be tracked.
    – stevec
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 17:45

1 Answer 1

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This gives the unique identifier of your device to the app. For example, apps could sell your usage patterns linked with the ID to a database, and advertisers can use these patterns to advertise relevant ads to this specific device. Blocking this is generally good, since it allows you to prevent more personalized data to be sent to data collectors and advertisers. Some companies, such as google (if you don’t have a google account), have gotten around this by using your usage patterns as your identifier itself (since there AI is so sophisticated).

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