Preparing for iOS 14 User Privacy Updates

Mrinal Parekh Mrinal Parekh, Senior Manager at CleverTap, has expertise in product, consumer, and digital marketing, with previous roles at Razorpay and Amazon.

Published on September 3, 2020
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Preparing for iOS 14 User Privacy Updates

At WWDC 2020 in June, Apple announced a notable change to iOS 14 with respect to user privacy. Given the impact the new policy will have on how businesses monetize ads and handle campaign attribution, here is what our customers need to know about how these changes may affect the way you use CleverTap.

Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA)

Starting with iOS 14, IDFA as a unique identifier will require a user’s explicit permission to be used in combination with data from another company. Apps need to display a system permission alert request to use data for tracking the user or device. Apps can access the IDFA only if the user explicitly opts in for tracking to be allowed. If a user denies permission, the app will be unable to access the IDFA. For more details, check Apple’s Developer Documentation.
Image Source: Apple Insider
In compliance with this update, CleverTap will be removing any ability to automatically access a user’s device advertising identifier (IDFA) for iOS 14 in our SDK. Alternatively, you can:

Fallback to using the IDFV (Identifier for Vendors) provided by Apple to uniquely identify a device to the app’s vendor.
Use our random device identifier, which works the same way as IDFA with the exception being that you will not be able to track a user across multiple reinstalls.
Use the setCleverTapID API via the SDK to set the IDFA in the user profile after the user provides consent by opting in. For more information, visit our documentation.

SKAdNetwork

As an alternative to IDFA, Apple provides the SKAdNetwork to help advertisers measure attribution while maintaining user privacy. The SKAdNetwork infrastructure operates without the IDFA or any other advertising ID, and requires no user consent. By implementing this, advertisers can receive campaign-level ad performance information without disclosing any user data.
Image Source: Apple
The SKAdNetwork does not affect CleverTap or the CleverTap iOS SDK, as advertising campaigns are not supported by our platform. Any app install or advertising campaign data collected by our partners such as Appsflyer and Branch will continue to be passed to your CleverTap account.
iOS 14 is expected to be released this month. We are monitoring all updates and are in active conversation with our partners to support you through the impact and scope of this change. To stay current with the latest announcements and product updates, subscribe to our blog.