Apple’s New Privacy Update and How It Affects Analytics

On September 16th, Apple released the newest iteration of their flagship iOS software: iOS 14. While the release comes with a host of new tweaks and bug fixes, the most crucial and relevant change involves the update to Apple’s ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention) features. 

By now, you’re likely asking yourself: “How does this affect my digital marketing efforts?” 

Without diving too deep into technical jargon, here are a few different ways that iOS 14 will impact analytics:

• While the bulk of basic Google Analytics tracking will remain unaffected, the “new users” metric will be impacted. This is due to Safari increasing the frequency of cookie deletion, now clearing cookies anywhere from 24 hours to 7 days
• An advertising network’s ability to build robust user profiles will be affected
• All applications listed on Apple’s App Store now have a reviewed set of guidelines that they must follow in regards to the disclosure of data
• All browser applications available to Apple users now have a slider as part of their internal settings known as “Enable Cross-Website Tracking”, which is disabled by default. This means that they will be employing WebKit’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention systems to their full extent
• Ad conversion tracking may be far more difficult to collect in the future

One of the key pieces of info here is that the update to Apple’s ITP spans across ALL applications used on an Apple device. For example, a Chrome user browsing on an iPhone will still be subjected to the Apple ITP changes. 

The release of iOS 14 has certainly done it’s fair share of shaking up the world of digital marketing. Companies are worried about the future. And rightfully so. Changes will need to be made, especially in the advent of certain tracking methods becoming obsolete. 

How Does This Change Affect CommonMind’s Clients?

It’s not all bad news, though. 

CommonMind has always taken pride in the fact that we always engage with potential customers in an ethical manner. Obviously, this isn’t the case with many advertisers, who continued to take advantage of a broken system and, in turn, compromised the public’s trust in marketing agencies, including CommonMind. 

This entire update is Apple’s response to the broken system in question. Companies will absolutely be forced to adapt, there’s no question about it. In fact, there are already examples of success stories involving companies who have done away with targeted advertising altogether. 

While we at CommonMind are of the belief that this update will certainly cause a little bit of collateral damage to some of our marketing tactics, the end result will be worth it. Companies and organizations will be able to start healing the rift caused by mistrust by adapting to newer, more ethical tactics. In the end, we believe this change will benefit everyone across the board. 

Conclusion

It’s safe to say that this update will create many questions and cause a good amount of unrest. We’re here to tell you not to worry. It may seem like quite the shake up, but the end result will leave companies and organizations better off across the board. 

We understand that some of the specifics of the update may also be confusing to the general public. If you’ve got any questions or need a more clear explanation, feel free to reach out to us. We’re here to help.