Apple recently released the iOS 14.5 update, which brought with it one of the most useful yet controversial features from the company, dubbed App Tracking Transparency. For those of you unaware, the feature forces app developers to ask for the user’s permission prior to tracking them. This was not the case earlier, with developers allowed to track them without any prior notice. With the rollout, most users have opted to stop app tracking, but this is not good for the app developers who make use of the data to serve ads for additional revenue. To tackle this issue, app developers have been adding pop-ups or in-app prompts asking users to enable tracking, and the latest of these developers seem to be from Twitter.
Twitter Submissively Asks Users to Allow Tracking Permission
First spotted by MacRumours, the prompt mentions that allowing app tracking will help Twitter keep ads relevant. This justification is rather simple, followed by a link to the photo settings, given you click ‘Continue’ so that you can turn app tracking on. Specifically, the prompt mentions that Twitter will keep ads relevant to you if you allow it to track data from other companies on the specific device, such as apps you use and websites that you visit. For additional context, Twitter has included another link to a support page on the help centre that explains why Twitter asks for this permission. This is a subtle bid to get users to allow Twitter tracking, especially considering how the company highlighted that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency would be a potential risk to the social platform. In case you missed it, Twitter mentioned in a letter to its shareholders that it expected total revenue to grow faster than expenses in 2021, given that the global pandemic is controlled and that modest impact from iOS 14.5 are expected. The speed of the revenue would vary on execution, response roadmap and macroeconomic factors, added the letter. This, when compared to the likes of Facebook and Instagram, is a much better approach, with the former two deciding to take an aggressive approach, even hinting in a threatening manner about the chances of Facebook becoming a paid application, as it mentions that enabling tracking is what is going to help keep Facebook or Instagram free of charge. We will have to wait to see whether or not users allow this tracking to occur and what are the several impacts that may occur given that a majority of users still decline to allow tracking to occur.
