What is App Tracking Transparency?

When you download an app, it’s possible you’re downloading more than you bargained for. Smartphone apps can be trojan horses, harboring tracking software in the background that can collect lots of information about you, ranging from your search history to your real-time location. Sometimes it’s the app developer collecting that data – and sometimes it’s third party companies you’ve never heard of using the app to collect your data for itself, usually without you knowing. 

Apple originally helped create the problem of technology that frequently tracks and sells our data. But in 2021, it took some steps to limit the flow of our data to third parties. Namely, it introduced App Tracking Transparency – and it’s a feature you should definitely turn on.

What is App Tracking Transparency?

App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is a privacy feature available on Apple devices.

When you turn ATT on, it stops third party trackers from collecting your device’s serial number – called the IDFA – that’s used by data brokers to recognize you across each app you use. The IDFA enables those third party companies to track what you do in each app on your phone and link it up into a single profile that tells a story about who you are and what you do across apps & websites over time. This profile is very valuable to data brokers and advertisers that want to sell your data or use it to show you targeted ads. 

ATT works by requiring each app you download to show you a pop-up that allows you to “Ask App Not to Track”. This stops the app from collecting your IDFA.

How do I turn on App Tracking Transparency?

Every new app you download is currently required to ask you for permission to track. Select “Ask App Not to Track” in the initial pop up you see right after downloading an app. 

Some apps may display a pop up before the consent pop up, telling you all the reasons why you should allow tracking. Ignore them. Most apps will still work completely fine – requesting not to track simply stops the app from collecting that serial number that’s used to track you.

How to turn on App Tracking Transparency automatically

While you can reject tracking by hand for every new app you download, we recommend setting App Tracking Transparency to automatically deny every app’s requests to track you.

1. Open Settings
2. Scroll down to Privacy & Security (it’s towards the bottom)
3. Select Tracking
4. At the top, toggle off Allow Apps to Request to Track. As Apple explains, “when this is off, all new app tracking requests are automatically denied.”

Turn off tracking in apps you’ve already downloaded

Turning on App Tracking Transparency only affects new apps you download going forward. To fully protect yourself, you also want to go and toggle off any tracking that apps you’ve already downloaded are doing. 

1. Open Settings
2. Scroll down to Privacy & Security (it’s towards the bottom)
3. Select Tracking
4. Scroll down the list of apps and toggle each one off

Does using App Tracking Transparency stop all data collection?

Nope. While ATT is nice, on its own this feature doesn’t stop all third party data collection. Apps can still collect other information that could be used to identify and track you, like your IP address. It’s against Apple policies for apps to collect some types of data, but ATT doesn’t put any technical barriers in place stopping them. A 2022 study found that even after ATT rollout some apps were continuing to collect data that could be used to identify users. 

ATT also does not stop Apple from collecting your data for itself. Although Apple doesn’t run as large of an advertising business as Google, it does run its own ads inside the App Store and in Apple News and Apple Stocks. Implementing ATT in 2021 was a huge blow for advertisers that rely on data harvesting and data sales to show you ads – the Financial Times estimated ATT cost the major tech platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter a combined $9.85 billion in advertising revenue in 2021.  But after making the change, Apple’s own advertising revenue rose. 

ATT may not be perfect, but it’s still a big step by Apple to help protect your data from spreading far and wide on targeted advertising marketplaces. And it’s definitely still worth using if you’re an Apple customer.

What else can I do to protect my data? 

Turning on ATT is a good start. But there’s more you can do. 

1. Delete any apps off your phone you don’t actually need. Every app on your phone is another opportunity for a company – or worse, a bad actor – to be harvesting your data without you knowing. Be choosy about what apps you download and purge your phone of anything non-essential.
2. Stop all apps from having access to your location. Location data is incredibly sensitive – and apps are collecting it all the time. Even NSA has advised Americans to disable location services on apps to stop the flow of sensitive data to bad actors. On your iPhone, go to Settings>Privacy & Security>Location Services. Then go into each app and change it to “Never” or “Ask Next Time Or When I Share”. 
3. Reject all web cookies. These are trackers, too. It’s worth the few extra seconds to click into a cookie pop up’s options and turn off all the cookies it will let you turn off – particularly advertising cookies.

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