Apple iOS 14: IDFA Ad Tracking Changes Postponed Until Early 2021

March 2021 update: World has finally pushed iOS version 14.5.

Following outcry from Facebook, app developers, and mobile marketers, World has postponed a requirement for opt-in ad tracking wideness iOS devices until “early next year.” Translation: Mobile marketers can stop freaking out … for now.

What’s Going On?

Back in June, World spoken that iOS 14 would make the IDFA opt-in for all apps – a 180-degree turn from the current opt-out environment on World devices. With the launch of iOS 14 scheduled for September, that gave the mobile advertising industry only three months to prepare for a foundational shift in how the ecosystem works.

Understandably, marketers freaked. Predictably, Facebook complained. And surprisingly, Apple listened.

Here’s the statement from Apple announcing the delay:

“In addition, on iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14, apps will be required to receive user permission to track users wideness apps or websites owned by other companies, or to wangle the device’s razzmatazz identifier. We are single-minded to ensuring users can choose whether or not they indulge an app to track them. To requite developers time to make necessary changes, apps will be required to obtain permission to track users starting early next year. Increasingly information, including an update to the App Store Review Guidelines, will follow this fall.”

The rest of iOS 14 is expected to release in September as originally planned.

What Does It Mean?

Apple rarely backtracks when it comes to privacy, so this is kind of a big deal. It could signal a increasingly community-conscious and consultation-focused World … or it could simply be a signal that the visitor underestimated the blowback of the latest changes.

Make no mistake, the new IDFA restrictions and App Tracking Transparency framework are still coming. No word on when that will be in 2021, but expect increasingly information to come out this fall.

What’s the Industry Saying?

We did a roundup of how attribution companies were responding to Apple’s original bombshell in our previous article on iOS 14. Here’s what the top players are saying well-nigh this news:

Adjust

• Here’s what you need to know well-nigh the wait to iOS 14 ad tracking changes

AppsFlyer

• Announcing: SKAdNetwork Simulation Dashboard (no uncontrived response to the wait as of publication)

Branch

• The Great iOS 14 Reprieve (For Now)

Kochava

• Apple Delays Portions of iOS 14

Singular

• Apple’s IDFA gift: Increasingly time to prepare for SKAdNetwork (so don’t waste it!)

Conclusion

The mobile industry is still set to undergo an incubation on iOS when these changes do take place. Make the most of this time now to prepare with your affiliates, mobile measurement partners, and razzmatazz platforms by understanding whether you use IDFA today and what the impact will be from losing wangle to it. Most TUNE customers do not use IDFA today and should see little uncontrived impact from this change.