App Tracking Transparency (ATT)

What is App Tracking Transparency (ATT)?

App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is an opt-in privacy framework which makes it mandatory for all apps on the App Store to ask their users for permission to share and track their data for advertising and targeting purposes. ATT is enforced via a popup where the app user can choose to either opt-in or opt-out of sharing their personal data. The ATT privacy-centric framework was enforced post iOS 14.5 for all Apple devices. Since the onset of ATT, advertisers and developers now have limited amounts of user data to share with MMPs and other tools. This limits their ability to create targeted and optimized user acquisition strategies and has had a direct impact on the mobile advertising industry overall.

To counter this limitation on granular (user-level) data, Apple has developed their new attribution solution called SKAdnetwork. Read here on how Tenjin can help you navigate through this for your apps.

Does my app need ATT?

If you are looking to have users with iOS 14.5+ devices, then the ATT framework is mandatory for your app. Additionally, if the app will collect data on users and share it with other third party companies for tracking purposes for different apps, then the ATT implementation is needed.

How to increase my opt-in rate?

Different messaging can be tested with a prompt before the ATT pop-up prompt is used. This messaging is usually used to inform users of the benefits of opting in for tracking and advertising purposes. The idea is to keep the pre-prompt short and to the point. Additionally, it is beneficial to show the ATT prompt at the first app launch as this allows for more users to consent to tracking.

Is ATT also on Android?

Google has also announced that they will be making similar privacy-centric changes with Android 12. Google is planning to deprecate cookies for the websites in 2023 and eventually will also limit the data that can be shared via the advertising ID (i.e. GAID) later in the year.