apple Apple Has Quietly Started Tracking iPhone Users Again, And Its Tricky To Op

[T1Famous]

Apple's launch of the iPhone 5 in September came with a bunch of new commercials to promote the device.

But Apple didn't shout quite so loud about an enhancement to its new mobile operating system, iOS 6, which also occurred in September: The company has started tracking users so that advertisers can target them again, through a new tracking technology called IFA or IDFA.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ifa-apples-iphone-tracking-in-ios-6-2012-10?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29

[f0rk_b0mb]

Laws really have to be put in place about tracking users and the cloud in general so something bad doesn't happen.

[Big b0b]

Enjoy your new iPhone, fanboiz

[Elliot B.]

Enjoy your new iPhone, fanboiz

They are :) The iPhone constantly tops user satisfaction polls.

[Rudy]

Enjoy your new iPhone, fanboiz

Good for you for being naive enough to believe Google doesn't track your Android phone...

[Noir Angel]

Interesting how this never made it's way into any of Apple's feature listings. It also appears users are also pretty happy with the SGSIII in fact even my sister who has been using iPhones since the very first 3G iPhone admitted that she really likes the one her boyfriend has. The iPhone isn't king any more, and from the sounds of this it appears Apple are just as dirty as Google.

[Anibal P]

They are :) The iPhone constantly tops user satisfaction polls.

We all know iSheep will never honestly answer those polls, they really are convinced it is THE perfect phone, of course till the next model comes out that is

[Rippleman]

Enjoy your new iPhone, fanboiz

"tracking" goes on with ANY connected cell phones... i would explain how but i don't think it would matter to you even if you would understand it.

[Big b0b]

Good for you for being naive enough to believe Google doesn't track your Android phone...

They aren't tracking a damn thing. I've been running custom roms since my days of iOS 2.9.8. I made the jump almost 4 years ago to the day, haven't looked back since.

They are :) The iPhone constantly tops user satisfaction polls.

Oh look, so does android devices. Polls are only as accurate as the person hosting them :).

[aviator189]

We all know iSheep will never honestly answer those polls, they really are convinced it is THE perfect phone, of course till the next model comes out that is

this.

[Boz]

"tracking" goes on with ANY connected cell phones... i would explain how but i don't think it would matter to you even if you would understand it.

it's not an issue of tracking.. it's a matter of ability to opt out.

[123456789A]

Slide to unlock the dark secrets of iOS 6!

[Packet1009]

i see an option to disable location based iAds in the privacy settings - afaik, this is new in ios 6.

is this what they refer to?

Ah hah now i remember where i saw it.

glad to see the article mentions it too: "The tracking control is titled "Limit Ad Tracking," and must be turned to ON, not OFF, in order to work" and it's in general - about - advertising.

out of curiosity, do android / winphone phones have such settings too?

[techbeck]

So, they are doing what Google is doing. Let's see if there are the same outcries against Apple as there was against Google. At least Google let the public know what was happening.

As long as it isn't personal data, I really don't care.

[Shadrack]

We all know iSheep will never honestly answer those polls, they really are convinced it is THE perfect phone, of course till the next model comes out that is

Whatever. My iPhone 4 is still badass and I really don't care if you don't believe me. You people are hard at work in your own reality distortion field.

The only people claiming the iPhone is perfect are hyperbole obsessed folks like you. Other people live in reality and make objective comparisons between products.

[techbeck]

Whatever. My iPhone 4 is still badass and I really don't care if you don't believe me. You people are hard at work in your own reality distortion field.

I kept my Galaxy S for over two years. Still works great and runs the latest os with no problems. It is currently an mp3 player now. Got a new phone when I switched carriers.

If the device works for you, no need to upgrade really.

[neo1911]

This thread has been infested by rabid fandroids. As someone mentioned, there is an option in iOS6 to limit AD based tracking. Simply turn that on.

[ILikeTobacco]

We all know iSheep will never honestly answer those polls, they really are convinced it is THE perfect phone for what they want/care to do, of course till the next model comes out that is

Fixed that to line up with reality. Consumers buy what they want/need or think they want/need. Don't be naive. Most people don't give a rats ass about what all the phone can't do because they have it to do what it can do. Stop using absolutes about people you don't even know. Makes you look arrogant.

[ILikeTobacco]

I kept my Galaxy S for over two years. Still works great and runs the latest os with no problems. It is currently an mp3 player now. Got a new phone when I switched carriers.

If the device works for you, no need to upgrade really.

People on this forum seem to have a Highlander obsession with the tech world. "There can be only one." Considering the tech junkies are niche market, not the majority market, chances are what you want/need from a phone has no bearing on what my grandma wants. Get over it. Both systems work and both systems meet peoples needs. As you said, if it works, why upgrade?

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

One word about the average comment in this thread "Flame" LOL

And yes it's not a good thing that apple does this but I guess it's included in the user agreement(which nobody reads) and so legally and I wonder why everyone is upset about their location being known by random people at a company... or is everyone here a serial killer wanting to hide their where abouts :rofl:

And Google also did the same thing but after they had a few angry people because of it you are now asked if you want to share your location when you connect you google account to your android device.

[_neutrino Veteran]

it was not very quite, as when the feature first game to light during the Development cycle all sorts of sites started posting how to turn the feature off.

[THolman Veteran]

Since when is going into settings and tapping 'off' considered 'tricky?'

[javagreen]

This thread has been infested by rabid fandroids. As someone mentioned, there is an option in iOS6 to limit AD based tracking. Simply turn that on.

Rabid 'fandroids'?

Say, where can I buy meself one of those 'fandroids' or do I have to make do with iSheeple stiff zombiezealots?

Since when is going into settings and tapping 'off' considered 'tricky?'

It's tricky because it does what it says. And that's just 'limit' ad tracking, NOT turn it off (which is the point of this discussion).... without any presented method of completely turning it off, for those to want to turn it off.

So, how does one really opt out?

[THolman Veteran]

It's tricky because it does what it says. And that's just 'limit' ad tracking, NOT turn it off (which is the point of this discussion).... without any presented method of completely turning it off, for those to want to turn it off.

So, how does one really opt out?

According to Apple, if you opt-in to 'limit ad tracking,' "advertising networks using the Advertising Identifier may no longer gather information to serve you targeted ads. In the future all advertising networks will be required to use the Advertising Identifier. However, until advertising networks transition to using the Advertising Identifier you may still receive targeted ads from other networks."

In other words, opting out shuts down the Advertising Identifier, but you still might be tracked until UDID is permentately disabled. Apple is just waiting to let advertising networks adapt to the new setting. Sheesh, I love my privacy - just for privacy's sake. But there's nothing tricky about this.

[javagreen]

According to Apple, if you opt-in to 'limit ad tracking,' "advertising networks using the Advertising Identifier may no longer gather information to serve you targeted ads. In the future all advertising networks will be required to use the Advertising Identifier. However, until advertising networks transition to using the Advertising Identifier you may still receive targeted ads from other networks."

In other words, opting out shuts down the Advertising Identifier, but you still might be tracked until UDID is permentately disabled. Apple is just waiting to let advertising networks adapt to the new setting. Sheesh, I love my privacy - just for privacy's sake. But there's nothing tricky about this.

What you say is absolutely correct, however, the point is that it in fact tricky.

Tricky, not in the sense of going into settings, and turning ON the option to limit ad-based tracking. Tricky, not in the sense of how ad based tracking itself works : you explained the technicalities of how it works, but that's beyond the point. It's tricky in the sense that the end user has NO option to completely opt-out. Opt out in the truest sense of the word. In case you're wondering, personally, I give two flips about who tracks my device usage or app usage, I'm merely illustrating the point you missed about this discussion.

Casual users might be convinced that enabling this option will greatly limit the tracking that happens, but there's no defined scale as to how much lesser would they be tracked. Perhaps, tricky isn't the correct word?