The company said in a new privacy report that Apple will launch a new privacy feature on iOS “in early spring” that will require developers to require users to allow their app to track them.PDF). The feature is already available in the new beta version of iOS 14.

Users must give explicit permission to follow them via trackers. The tracking collects data from a user in the background, such as the current location and the sites visited. Based on a unique user code, a person’s interest profile can be created, so that targeted ads are served to the user.

Usually, people have to dig into their phone’s settings to turn off these trackers. Apple wants to change that by asking users to enable tracking functions when opening an app. If the user refuses permission, the app will not be allowed to collect information.

The new privacy feature was supposed to appear in Apple’s operating systems in the fall of 2020, but that moment was then Delayed To give developers more time to adapt their working methods.

Advertisers fear that the change will result in a loss of turnover. The social networking site Facebook warned All of this can have “dire consequences” for online advertisers, especially small advertisers.