iOS17: How Apple Link Tracking Protection will impact the daily lives of marketers
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 6:00 am
Tracking Protection. Set to be integrated into iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma, the initiative is a further step towards protecting user privacy, while potentially disrupting traditional practices for tracking online behavior.
As usual, Apple remained very vague during the conference about the exact austria whatsapp number data 5 million consequences of the feature. As early as June, many people tried to interpret the announcement in order to see things more clearly. In July, Apple released a public beta version of iOS 17, allowing for various tests and moving from theoretical interpretations to concrete facts. This, subject to possible adaptations between the intermediate and final versions. At the end of September, iOS 17 was officially launched, now it's time to observe the real consequences of the announcement.
Actito_Article_Ios17_Hero
Summary
Let’s start at the beginning: What is Apple Link Tracking Protection?
Why this initiative from Apple?
In practice, which users are affected by Apple LTP?
What is the impact for marketers?
What about email marketing?
What is the impact of LTP on link tracking of campaigns sent from Actito?
In conclusion
Let’s start at the beginning: What is Apple Link Tracking Protection?
In short, this is a new initiative by Apple to protect users by allowing greater privacy of their online activities. To do this, user-specific tracking query parameters are stripped from the URL while browsing . This is in Messages , Mail , and Safari (in private browsing).
Apple's official announcement: "Some websites add extra information to their URLs in order to track users across other websites. Now this information will be removed from the links users share in Messages and Mail, and the links will still work as expected . This information will also be removed from links in Safari Private Browsing" - https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/ ... -features/
Why this initiative from Apple?
Apple Link Tracking Protection is part of Apple's broader privacy initiative , designed to give users more control over how their online activities are tracked and used.
We recall other recent initiatives going in this direction such as Mail Privacy Protection linked to the Apple Tracking Transparency framework.
In practice, which users are affected by Apple LTP?
Apple LTP will be automatically enabled on devices running the newer iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma operating systems. This includes iPhone, iPad, and Mac users.
Since the end of September, these new versions have been available. The updates will not be immediate but we can expect them to gain ground quickly over the months.
According to available data, Safari would represent, today, about 20% of market share among internet browsers. As for private browsing, it seems to represent a volume of surfing still very limited.
What is the impact for marketers?
Generally speaking, tracking parameters are pieces of information added to the end of a URL in order to track and analyze the behavior of visitors on a website. Marketers use these tracking parameters to understand how people interact with their website or advertising campaigns. Thanks to them, the marketer can identify, for example, where visitors to their site come from, the actions performed online, ...
The core of this new protection is that Apple Link Tracking Protection detects user-identifiable tracking parameters in link URLs and automatically removes them . In other words, shared links can no longer be used to track users across sites as accurately as before .
For example, a link before protection looked like this: https://example.com/page?tracking_id=XYZ . After protection, it will be simplified to https://example.com/page .
Some sources have published lists of settings removed by Apple. Here is one:
https://www.wojtek.ch/advertising/safar ... s-problem/
Article_ios17_Tracking
According to the latter, we see that not all additional URL parameters would be removed, confirming the idea that Apple's goal is more to prevent marketers from tracking specific individuals from site to site, for targeting purposes, rather than to limit them in analyzing the results of their campaigns.
These conclusions, drawn from tests carried out on the Beta version of iOS 17, seem to be confirmed with the deployment of the final version.
What about email marketing?
Overall, email marketing seems relatively unaffected by all this.
In reality, the impact seems to vary depending on the ESP (Email Service Provider) used and whether or not there is a redirect in the links. Indeed, in the case of a redirect, LTP has no impact. Today, only a few ESPs seem not to use a redirect to track links, thus greatly limiting the impact on email campaigns.
What is the impact of LTP on link tracking of campaigns sent from Actito?
Great news: according to our tests carried out on the BETA and final versions of iOS17, there are none! The marketer always has access to the clicks made in his campaigns, to the interactions made by users through the campaigns. This, whether it is email or SMS campaigns.
Also, Actito has a tracking system called “goal”, allowing to follow an individual when they browse a website. Here too, our conclusion is the same: we have not observed any impact. This is nevertheless to be followed over time because Apple can always evolve LTP and extend the list of filtered parameters in order to make the tracking stricter. And to learn everything about goals, it's here: https://cdn3.actito.com/fe/actito-docum ... docs/Goals
In conclusion
From an Actito perspective , we are delighted to be able to reassure marketers that LTP will not impact their use of the platform .
Nevertheless, Apple Link Tracking Protection represents another step towards a more privacy-friendly digital world, while forcing marketers to rethink their approach to online tracking . Apple has, once again, made marketers sweat all summer long, with an announcement that shakes up their way of operating and forces them to reinvent themselves. We can see all this as an additional opportunity to emphasize and focus on zero and first-party data (to learn all about this data, read this article from our friends at Qualifio) .
As usual, Apple remained very vague during the conference about the exact austria whatsapp number data 5 million consequences of the feature. As early as June, many people tried to interpret the announcement in order to see things more clearly. In July, Apple released a public beta version of iOS 17, allowing for various tests and moving from theoretical interpretations to concrete facts. This, subject to possible adaptations between the intermediate and final versions. At the end of September, iOS 17 was officially launched, now it's time to observe the real consequences of the announcement.
Actito_Article_Ios17_Hero
Summary
Let’s start at the beginning: What is Apple Link Tracking Protection?
Why this initiative from Apple?
In practice, which users are affected by Apple LTP?
What is the impact for marketers?
What about email marketing?
What is the impact of LTP on link tracking of campaigns sent from Actito?
In conclusion
Let’s start at the beginning: What is Apple Link Tracking Protection?
In short, this is a new initiative by Apple to protect users by allowing greater privacy of their online activities. To do this, user-specific tracking query parameters are stripped from the URL while browsing . This is in Messages , Mail , and Safari (in private browsing).
Apple's official announcement: "Some websites add extra information to their URLs in order to track users across other websites. Now this information will be removed from the links users share in Messages and Mail, and the links will still work as expected . This information will also be removed from links in Safari Private Browsing" - https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/ ... -features/
Why this initiative from Apple?
Apple Link Tracking Protection is part of Apple's broader privacy initiative , designed to give users more control over how their online activities are tracked and used.
We recall other recent initiatives going in this direction such as Mail Privacy Protection linked to the Apple Tracking Transparency framework.
In practice, which users are affected by Apple LTP?
Apple LTP will be automatically enabled on devices running the newer iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma operating systems. This includes iPhone, iPad, and Mac users.
Since the end of September, these new versions have been available. The updates will not be immediate but we can expect them to gain ground quickly over the months.
According to available data, Safari would represent, today, about 20% of market share among internet browsers. As for private browsing, it seems to represent a volume of surfing still very limited.
What is the impact for marketers?
Generally speaking, tracking parameters are pieces of information added to the end of a URL in order to track and analyze the behavior of visitors on a website. Marketers use these tracking parameters to understand how people interact with their website or advertising campaigns. Thanks to them, the marketer can identify, for example, where visitors to their site come from, the actions performed online, ...
The core of this new protection is that Apple Link Tracking Protection detects user-identifiable tracking parameters in link URLs and automatically removes them . In other words, shared links can no longer be used to track users across sites as accurately as before .
For example, a link before protection looked like this: https://example.com/page?tracking_id=XYZ . After protection, it will be simplified to https://example.com/page .
Some sources have published lists of settings removed by Apple. Here is one:
https://www.wojtek.ch/advertising/safar ... s-problem/
Article_ios17_Tracking
According to the latter, we see that not all additional URL parameters would be removed, confirming the idea that Apple's goal is more to prevent marketers from tracking specific individuals from site to site, for targeting purposes, rather than to limit them in analyzing the results of their campaigns.
These conclusions, drawn from tests carried out on the Beta version of iOS 17, seem to be confirmed with the deployment of the final version.
What about email marketing?
Overall, email marketing seems relatively unaffected by all this.
In reality, the impact seems to vary depending on the ESP (Email Service Provider) used and whether or not there is a redirect in the links. Indeed, in the case of a redirect, LTP has no impact. Today, only a few ESPs seem not to use a redirect to track links, thus greatly limiting the impact on email campaigns.
What is the impact of LTP on link tracking of campaigns sent from Actito?
Great news: according to our tests carried out on the BETA and final versions of iOS17, there are none! The marketer always has access to the clicks made in his campaigns, to the interactions made by users through the campaigns. This, whether it is email or SMS campaigns.
Also, Actito has a tracking system called “goal”, allowing to follow an individual when they browse a website. Here too, our conclusion is the same: we have not observed any impact. This is nevertheless to be followed over time because Apple can always evolve LTP and extend the list of filtered parameters in order to make the tracking stricter. And to learn everything about goals, it's here: https://cdn3.actito.com/fe/actito-docum ... docs/Goals
In conclusion
From an Actito perspective , we are delighted to be able to reassure marketers that LTP will not impact their use of the platform .
Nevertheless, Apple Link Tracking Protection represents another step towards a more privacy-friendly digital world, while forcing marketers to rethink their approach to online tracking . Apple has, once again, made marketers sweat all summer long, with an announcement that shakes up their way of operating and forces them to reinvent themselves. We can see all this as an additional opportunity to emphasize and focus on zero and first-party data (to learn all about this data, read this article from our friends at Qualifio) .