Apple released iOS 14.5 to the general public last week. This update finally introduced App Tracking Transparency which limits advertisers and developers from tracking a user’s app usage. Tim Cook, at Apple’s Q2 2021 earning calls, reaffirmed that the response to App Tracking has been ‘tremendous.’
Apple reported nearly $90 billion in revenue at its quarterly earnings call yesterday. Tim Cook claimed that a major contribution to these numbers has been an increase in sales of Mac, due to the introduction of M1 chips, and its Services sector. Apple Services hit 660 million paid subscribers this month, and Tim Cook says it has surpassed all expectations.
In case you are unclear what App Tracking Transparency is, read our explainer on what App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14.5 is and how it will protect your privacy.
In a QnA following the earnings call, Tim Cook was asked about its new App Tracking Transparency feature, and how well it was received. To this, Tim replied:
“ATT’s focus is really on the user and giving the user the ability to make a decision about whether they want to be tracked or not. And so it’s putting the user in the control, not Apple, not another company, but the user, where it should be.
The feedback that we’ve gotten from users both before it went live, when it was in the planning stages and so forth, and after has been tremendous.”
When asked about how many people are actually turning on the feature, and how many download iOS 14.5 has achieved. Tim Cook slightly dodged the question by saying that even if a low number of people are turning off App Tracking, it’s still worth doing.
“I don’t even know the answer to that. It’s not something that we would have predicted beforehand. And frankly, even if it’s very low of people that don’t want to be tracked, it’s worth doing because those people should make their own mind up, whether they would like to be tracked or not.”
Have you updated to iOS 14.5 yet? What features do you like? Did you enable App Tracking Transparency? Drop a comment and let us know!
