When I turn on personalized advertising (I previously turned it off), Apple’s ad targeting says I’m included in segments based on my age (as of date of birth) , my gender (which can be inferred if I haven’t told Apple) and location (based on my registered postcode). Apple also broadly lists my interests into 10 different categories for apps—including productivity, sports, news, and business. As for the movie, I’m in the Action and Adventure categories, as well as Science Fiction and Fantasy.
The company’s document also says that the App Store’s “browsing activity” is also used to help determine which ads may be shown to you. “App Store browsing includes content and apps that you tap and view while browsing the App Store. This information is aggregated between users so that it does not identify you,” notices company documents say.
This data has the potential to be extended. Tommy Mysk, app developer and security researcher who runs software company Mysk with fellow developer Talal Haj Bakry, said: “Everything is monitored and sent to Apple almost in real time. real time. In November, the Mysk researchers prove how taps on the screen are recorded when use the App Store. Their subsequent study demonstrated that Analytical data can be used to identify people.
“The App Store is special because there is no other option,” Mysk said. “There’s no other choice. If you don’t like Apple Music’s privacy statement, that’s fine. You can use Spotify—there are alternatives. Go to the App Store, none at all.”
Research has shown results two class action lawsuits against Apple. Separately, the French data regulator has Apple fined for advertising practices. Apple spokeswoman Shane Bauer said the company was “disappointed” with France’s decision and plans to appeal. “Apple Search Ads goes further than any other digital advertising platform we know of by giving users a clear choice about whether they want personalized ads,” Bauer said. or not”. “In addition, Apple Search Ads never track users across third-party apps and websites and only uses first-party data to personalize ads.”
Bauer adds that privacy protections are built into all of its apps. “Identifiable information is never shared with third parties and is not used to track users across apps and websites,” says Bauer. “All data used for advertising purposes is decoupled from personally identifiable numbers, and Apple Ads operates on a de-identified database.”
Apple said that in the first quarter of last year, 78% of App Store searches where people might have been shown ads were from devices with personalized ads turned off—”conversion rate” for advertisers it’s essentially the same for personalized and contextual advertising, it said.
Apple policy for Siri says that if you use the service, your requests will be associated with a random identifier, not your Apple ID. Apple also creates a “computer-generated record of your Siri requests” to get to know you better. The company says the random identifiers it uses are not linked to any of your other Apple data, are not sold, and are not used to build “marketing profiles.”
How to limit the data Apple collects
Apple can opt out of showing you personalized ads in the App Store, News, TV, and Stocks apps. If you would like to disable Apple’s personalized advertising on iOS, you can do so by visiting Setting > Privacy & Security > apple advertisement And off Personalized advertising. In this menu, if you have personalization turned on, you can also see the ad targeting information Apple uses to show you certain ads.
The two places where Apple uses your data for advertising—the Apple News and Stocks apps—can adjust their own settings to change the identifiers associated with you. In Setting and then the details of each app, you can enable the option to reset the identifier reported to the publisher.
inside Privacy & Security Apple’s settings section, it might also be worth looking into Analysis & Improvement. In this setting, you can stop Apple’s collection of iPhone and iCloud analytics data, which Apple says is used to help it improve its products and services. If you want to get the data that Apple has about you, you can access it through corporate download tool.
Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the civil rights and privacy group Surveillance Technology Monitoring Project, said Apple should do more to highlights its recently published encrypted iCloud backups. “Many users don’t realize how vulnerable iCloud data (including device backups and messages) is by default,” Cahn said.
Similarly, you should take some time to review the sensor permissions of other apps and devices in Privacy & Security section. Can change your location settings, review which apps can see your location and when; prevent third-party apps, such as Facebook, from tracking you on your iPhone; and see what permissions you’ve granted to which apps.
