• Apple leads iOS 14.5 App Tracking Transparency
• IT pros find out that Apple itself tracks the activities of its own users
• Data collected by Apple is surprisingly detailed
tracking permission
As Apple Support explains in a post, since the operating system update iOS 14.5 or later, iPadOS 14.5 or later and tvOS 14.5 or later, apps have to ask for permission if they want to track the activities in apps and on the websites of users from other companies . When asking whether the app may track user behavior, the user can decide for himself whether he agrees with “Allow” or not with “Reject app tracking”. The range of functions of the app should also not be dependent on permission or rejection. In addition, app developers can partially adapt the request, for example to explain why user activities should be recorded. If you opt out of app tracking, the app developer will not be able to access the system’s advertising ID (IDFA). In addition, the app is also not allowed to record user activities based on other information that could be used for identification, such as the e-mail address.
Apple continues to track
However, Apple itself does not seem to adhere to these privacy guidelines. As the IT experts at the software company Mysk found out, Apple integrated its own tracking algorithms into the app store in parallel with App Tracking Transparency (ATT) from iOS 14.6. To arrive at this result, the experts examined data from Apple’s own apps, including iBooks and Apple Music, for example. As was shown, the algorithms track the movements of users even if they have explicitly objected to personalized recommendations and the transmission of analysis data. A special focus should also be on which apps users look at, how long they do this and how users like them. Overall, the app store collects real-time data on every single action the user takes, including what was tapped, what apps they searched for, and what ads they saw. In addition, details about the user and their device that are commonly used for device fingerprinting are also transmitted, such as ID numbers, the type of phone used, the screen resolution, the keyboard languages and the type of internet connection.
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The recent changes that Apple has made to App Store ads should raise many #privacy concerns. It seems that the #AppStore app on iOS 14.6 sends every tap you make in the app to Apple.?This data is sent in one request: (data usage & personalized ads are off)#CyberSecurity pic.twitter.com/1pYqdagi4e– Mysk ???? (@mysk_co) November 3, 2022
Various apps and devices
Gizmodo asked the experts to examine other Apple apps for comparison. It turned out that the Health and Wallet apps didn’t transmit any analytics data at all, regardless of whether the iPhone analytics setting was on or off. However, the situation is different for the Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, iTunes Store and Stocks apps. Most of the apps that submitted analytics data shared unified ID numbers that allow Apple to track user activity across all services, the researchers further explain to Gizmodo. For example, the Stocks app sent Apple the list of stocks you were watching, the names of the stocks you were looking at or searched for, a timestamp of when that happened, and a record of any news articles you’d read in the app viewed. However, unlike the other apps, Aktien sent different ID numbers and far less detailed device information.
The experts also checked their results on two different Apple devices, an iPhone running iOS 14.6 and an iPhone with the latest iOS 16 operating system. What exactly Apple does with the collected data is unclear. To date, there has been no statement from the company. However, Tommy Mysk himself explains how surprised he is at how detailed the data collected by Apple is: “I would have expected that a company like Apple, which considers the protection of privacy to be a fundamental human right, would collect more general analytical data.”
E. Schmal / Editor finanzen.net
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