SAN RAMON, California (AP) – Apple says it will implement a new privacy control in the spring to prevent iPhone apps from shadowing people in secret. The planned launch delay aims to appease Facebook and other digital services that rely on this data monitoring to help sell ads.
While Apple has not provided a specific date, the general schedule released Thursday means a long-awaited feature known as Transparency App Tracking. will be part of an iPhone software update that will likely arrive in late March or sometime in April.
After delaying the scheduled presentation for September of protection amid a Facebook-led outcry, Apple had previously said it would come out earlier this year. Apple released the latest update as part of Data Privacy Day, which CEO Tim Cook will greet during a speech scheduled for Thursday at a technology conference in Europe.
Apple has been putting up with giving Facebook and other app makers more time to adapt to a feature that will require iPhone users for their explicit consent for tracking. Analysts expect a significant number of users to deny this permission once they have to agree. Currently, iPhone users frequently track the applications they install unless they take the extra step of accessing the iPhone settings to avoid it.
Facebook intensified its attacks about Apple’s new privacy check last month in a series of full-page ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other national newspapers. That campaign suggested that some free digital services will shrink if they can’t compile personal information to personalize ads. On Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioned Apple’s reasons for the changes, saying the iPhone maker “has every incentive” to use its own mobile platform to interfere with rivals in its own app. messaging.
“Apple may say it does it to help people, but the moves clearly follow its competitive interests,” Zuckerberg said.
Google, which also relies on personal data to power the Internet’s largest advertising network, has not joined Facebook in its criticism of Apple’s upcoming monitoring controls. Google takes advantage of being the default search engine for the iPhone, a precious position for which it pays Apple between $ 9 billion and $ 12 billion annually.
But Google warned in a blog post on Wednesday that Apple’s new controls will have a significant impact on the advertising revenue generated by iPhones from its digital network. Google said a “handful” of its iPhone apps will be affected by the new requirement, but did not identify which ones.
“We remain committed to preserving a vibrant and open application ecosystem where people can access a wide range of advertising content with the confidence that their privacy and choices are respected,” wrote Christophe Combette, head Google Ads Group product list.
Apple also released an 11-page report to illustrate how much apps can learn about their users in everyday life.
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AP technology writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this story from Oakland, California.