Apps on your iPhone® can track your activity across other apps and websites, but only with your permission. Discover how to turn off app tracking on your iPhone to protect your privacy and gain some peace of mind.
Here at Asurion, we’re dedicated to providing solutions to your tech questions and concerns, such as how to turn off app tracking and customize other settings you may not be aware of.
Understand how App Tracking Transparency works
Apple® devices running iOS 14.5 or later have a built-in feature called App Tracking Transparency (ATT). ATT gives you the option to protect your privacy by denying apps the ability to track your data across other apps and websites.
When you download a new app, you may see a pop-up that asks whether you want to allow the app to track your activity. If you don’t want to allow that, it’s as simple as selecting Allow App Not to Track.
Choosing not to allow tracking won't affect your use of the app. You can still use all the app’s features without any issues, whether you give the app permission to track your data.
If you’re wondering how the app will use your data, you can look at the app’s details in the App Store® for more information. Generally, apps track data for advertising purposes or to share it with data brokers. For example, an app might track your web browsing data to show you personalized ads—ads for products related to your web searches or other online activity.
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Turn off app tracking in Settings
In the default privacy settings, apps are allowed to request to track your data. However, if you know that you don’t want any app to be able to track your activity across the internet, you can turn this option off entirely for all apps. Then, you won’t even see the pop-up request on new apps to allow them to track your data—all tracking will be off by default.
Follow these steps to turn off all app tracking on iPhone 14.5 or later:
- Open the Settings app.
- Go to Privacy & Security > Tracking.
- Turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track.
With this setting switched off, apps won't even have the ability to ask to track your data. This is how you block app tracking on your iPhone entirely going forward.
But you may want to allow certain apps to track your activity. To see a list of apps that have requested tracking permission, go to App Tracking Transparency settings. To stop a specific app from tracking you:
- Open the Settings app.
- Go to Privacy & Security > Tracking.
- Find the app you want to stop tracking.
- Tap the switch off in the list.
You can adjust and control app permissions on your iPhone at any time. If you decide you want personalized ads on your iPhone later, return to these settings and turn tracking permissions back on.
Other privacy steps and limitations
Within the Privacy & Security settings, there are many other privacy steps you can take, such as:
- Limiting location permissions: Select Location Services and turn off location sharing entirely or for certain apps. You can also set restrictions on apps so they can only access your location while you’re using them, for a good balance between functionality and privacy.
- Disabling personalized ads: Select Apple Advertising, then turn off Personalized Ads on your iPhone to prevent Apple from using your digital activity to show you targeted ads. You will still see the same number of ads, but they’ll be generic rather than personalized to you based on your activity.
- Adjusting Wallet settings: If you’re concerned about payment app privacy, select Wallet under Privacy & Security to see which apps currently have access to your digital financial account.
Turning off cross-app tracking on your iPhone will affect the ads you see. Since apps won’t have access to as much data about you, ads will likely be less relevant to your interests. That’s the tradeoff for stronger iPhone data privacy.
And even when you turn off tracking apps on your iPhone, Apple and third-party apps may still collect anonymous data from your device. This data helps the apps function properly and isn’t identifiable as your personal data.
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