How does iOS14 Tracking feature actually works

[hiro_hamada]

I'm not a developer, so I don't know what is going under the hood exactly, but I'm familiar how tracking works on the web.

What makes me confused is that I have installed Lockdown Apps on my iOS 13 iPhone that blocks all kinds of trackers from Facebook, Google, Crashalytics etc. I thought iOS 14 will do this natively, however when I installed Lockdown on iOS 14 phone, it blocks the same amount of trackers as on iOS 13.

So my question is what does iOS 14 Tracking feature actually blocks?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Here is a little bit of information about what iOS 14 tracking is supposed to do.

Apple teases new tracking protections and an approximate location feature in iOS 14

New limits to when apps can use the camera or microphone

www.theverge.com

 

[mariusignorello]

Funny enough, that Tracking item is the Reset Advertising Identifier setting in previous releases of iOS. I think Apple made it more powerful in iOS 14 though.

 

[hiro_hamada]

Funny enough, that Tracking item is the Reset Advertising Identifier setting in previous releases of iOS. I think Apple made it more powerful in iOS 14 though.

Yeah I noticed that Reset Advertising Identifier disappeared in iOS 14. Yet, these trackers seems to bypass the Tracking protection by Apple and end up being blocked by 3rd party apps such as Lockdown.

I though there won't be need for these 3rd party firewalls in iOS 14, but seems they still does a good job.

Still not sure what kind of trackers Apple blocks if they all end up in Lockdown firewall.

Here is the example of all trackers blocked after opening just one app. Look at the timestamps. I tested all apps I have on my phone, one by one, and half of them have implemented dozens of trackers, some even more than 50. If you use your phone normally for a day, it can block thousands of trackers. Very creepy when you start monitoring.

 

[itsmilo]

is that feature even active yet? I have yet to see a single app with that pop up asking me to en(dis)able it

 

[Apple_Robert]

is that feature even active yet? I have yet to see a single app with that pop up asking me to en(dis)able it

I don’t believe it is.