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Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

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Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#71
“Allow Apps to Request to Track” [ On | Off ]

That’s the setting in iOS under Settings > Privacy > Tracking.

What does it actually mean?

If it’s turned off, does that means that apps are tracking you since they don’t have to ask?

If it’s turned on, does that mean apps have to ask and you can disable tracking per app?

Something feels very strange about the way this setting is worded. I’d have excepted something like: “Allow Apps to Track” [ On | Off ]

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#73

I'm very curious how this works, so this is from a report [0] from Flurry Analytics, "owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing aggregated insights across 2 billion mobile devices per month" How is Flurry Analytics measuring app tracking on iOS devices? Are they just reporting how much they themselves are being disabled? [0] https://www.flurry.com/blog/ios-14-5-opt-in-rate-att-r…

Flurry provides an analytics library to app makers that gets compiled into their applications and then reports back. Flurry compiles data from all users and apps and gets a global portrait.

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#74

What a surprise. If I tell people going to the store that they choose to pay for the products, or not, a lot of people will choose not to. Who would guess that people like free stuff? Apple is disrupting whole economy for apps. It’s a very broken economy, with lots of questionable practices, that’s for sure. But we’ll see if it’ll be net benefit for customers. For sure for Apple, as more apps will have to move to be…

Except that's not what happens when paying is optional. People still pay, albeit not as much. 96% leaving this disabled is something else entirely.

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're probably joking, but the TSA has made that exact argument for their full-body scanners. >"The (body image scanning) technology is sent to the airports without the ability to save, transmit or print the images," said Greg Soule, TSA spokesman, in an interview with CBSNews.com. "At airports, the images are examined by a security officer in a remote location, and, once the image is cleared, they're deleted." http…

> The (body image scanning) technology is ... without the ability to ... transmit ... the images," > the images are examined by a security officer in a remote location oh dear. More seriously, at least TSA can at least make a proportionality type of argument, along the lines of, this invasion of privacy is justified on the grounds that it might save lives. Adtech is just going to use it to try and figure out how to c…

I don’t see why the TSA having awful reasons they can get away with is any better or any better hedge than any other player invading privacy unnecessarily.

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#76

“Allow Apps to Request to Track” [ On | Off ] That’s the setting in iOS under Settings > Privacy > Tracking. What does it actually mean? If it’s turned off, does that means that apps are tracking you since they don’t have to ask? If it’s turned on, does that mean apps have to ask and you can disable tracking per app? Something feels very strange about the way this setting is worded. I’d have excepted something like:…

If it's off it means that apps cannot request to allow tracking.

The default in this case is to outright disallow it for any app requesting.

If the option is on then the app can ask, and the user has a choice to allow or disallow. Again, if it's off, the default is to disallow tracking.

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#77

“Allow Apps to Request to Track” [ On | Off ] That’s the setting in iOS under Settings > Privacy > Tracking. What does it actually mean? If it’s turned off, does that means that apps are tracking you since they don’t have to ask? If it’s turned on, does that mean apps have to ask and you can disable tracking per app? Something feels very strange about the way this setting is worded. I’d have excepted something like:…

It turns off the ask, so the way it works is you need to ask and then you need to wait for a response and if that response is "Yes" they can then begin tracking. In any other case/situation you are not able to.

So if you don't want this asking you everytime you open any app (based on my experience it happens frequently) you can turn it off.

But yes, it could use a better wording.

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#78

Around 90% of users will never change a default setting unless it's directly interfering what they're trying to do.

My observation is 95% of people will never change a default setting even if it's directly interfering with what they're trying to do. I'm not sure why. Either maybe they don't know that there's a way to change settings, or maybe they're too afraid they'll break something, I don't know. I try to show people where settings are in different apps and opperating systems and encourage them to explore the options, but it se…

There are several of solid reasons to not change anything:

1. It might not be obvious that changing a setting could improve things. You need to have a solid mental model of how the specific tech works and how the setting could influence things. Casual users don't really have a model. Well, everyone has one, but for casual users it's more like a half-drawn sketch.

1. Changing a setting might break something - sometimes for good. Worse, it could break something unrelated (at least unrelated for the casual observer). Worst case scenario, it breaks something in a subtle way, that you only notice after a long time.

2. Changing a setting might break something that you can't fix on your own. Which takes us to a crucial social aspect: nobody like to feel dumb. Asking for help in many cultures and for many individuals makes them feel dumb.

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#79
post #18

I'm very curious how this works, so this is from a report [0] from Flurry Analytics, "owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing aggregated insights across 2 billion mobile devices per month" How is Flurry Analytics measuring app tracking on iOS devices? Are they just reporting how much they themselves are being disabled? [0] https://www.flurry.com/blog/ios-14-5-opt-in-rate-att-r…

I believe so, which is why that % is very small. I’ve seen quite a few reports from different providers in the last couple of weeks and suspect the _real_ average of opt-ins is considerably higher. I’m hoping to see some numbers from Apple at WWDC, which I expect would be in the 30-50% opt-in. Why? Because some apps (like Facebook) make it seem like it’s mandatory to opt-in. And I believe that if you opt-in for Faceb…

Apple has guidelines on the screens displayed before the opt-in.

I've seen apps fail audit because of the pre-text.

Re: Analytics suggest 96% of users leave app tracking disabled in iOS 14.5

#80
I'm actually quite surprised it's that high -- I've seen one prompt so far, and I was kind of running on autopilot so I accidentally clicked "Accept" before my brain even processed what it was asking me (and then I didn't bother to track down the setting to manually opt-out afterwards). I guess I'm in the top 5% of absent-minded users!
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