Android Users can now opt-out from Ad tracking
Now Android users can also completely opt-out from Ad tracking. Google is strengthening its privacy policies, making it more difficult for apps on Android phones and tablets to monitor users turn off personalized interest-based adverts. The new policy will take effect in late 2021.
The Financial Times was the first to report on the change and this development comes after Apple has announced a slew of privacy measures to its users.
The Present Framework
While Google already allows Android users to limit ad tracking and even manually reset Advertising IDs, the identifiers are still used for non-advertising yet important purposes like analytics and fraud prevention. This is going to change with this upgrade. Google announced in July to develop an alternative approach to address similar instances.
Google recommends app developers to use a persistent or proprietary identifier in the absence of advertising Ids. This should be done as long as the data collection is specified in the app’s privacy policy and the gathered data is handled in accordance with the Developer Distribution Agreement, and complying with the privacy laws.
The New Policy
With the implementation of the new policy, Google is likely to fully remove developers’ access to the so-called “Advertising IDs”. The Ids will be replaced by a “series of zeros.” The Google Advertising ID (AAID), which is similar to Apple’s IDFA, is a unique device identifier that app developers can use to follow users as they move between apps to better target advertising and assess marketing campaign efficiency.
On a support page, announcing the change, Google wrote, “When a user opts out of interest-based advertising or advertisements personalisation, the advertising identification will no longer be available starting in late 2021”.
The opt-out will be accessible as a Google Play Services update for Android 12 devices. It will gradually extended to all other apps running on Google Play-enabled devices in early 2022.
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