This morning saw Business Insider publish a breathless article about how Apple has reinstated ad tracking with iOS 6, and calling the opt out process “tricky.” Yes, ad tracking is back in, but opting out is hardly onerous.
iOS 6 has seen the instatement of ”identifier for advertisers ” (IFA), and is used to target you for ads specific to your likes. It’s a replacement for the old UDID, but tied to the user rather than device. It’s a frequent feature of most ad networks, and something you’re probably used to seeing online. However, opting out will only take a minute.
All you have to do is go Settings>General>About>Advertising>Limit Ad Tracking. Turn that “on” and your set. Should it have been opt in rather than opt out? Yeah, probably. Is it in an obscure part of the preferences? Yep. Is it hard to change? Not in the slightest. It took me all of 30 seconds.
And even if you don’t change it, it’s not tracking any private information. It’s not revealing who your are to advertisers. So feel free to turn it off if you like, or not if you’re not bothered. This isn’t something to get upset about.
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