Facebook in panic mode as most iPhone users have opted out of tracking

The App Tracking transparency feature, introduced in iOS 14.5, is easily one of the most important new iOS features, limiting the amount of data advertisers could collect from users. It would seem that the change has been adopted by 75% of all iOS users, with only 25% opting to continue sharing data with advertisers, as per analytics firm Branch.

Bloomberg reports that this has thrown Facebook into full panic mode as the social platform is seemingly no longer capable of providing select key metrics to its advertisers, preventing them from knowing how well their ads are performing. In particular, media buyers running ad campaigns on Facebook in the last month have not been able to correctly report their clients' direct sales.

What's more, Facebook is now seemingly incapable of showing a business' products to the potential customers on Facebook or re-target customers that have already purchased a product. As you might imagine, the lack of credible statistics is quite bad for the advertising industry, which now has to throw multiple things at the wall to see what's sticking and what's not.

App Tracking is a per-app feature that prompts you to enable tracking or disallow it, but users can automatically disable all incoming app track requests, thus making advertisers' job harder by the minute. In case you don't know how to do that, we have a pretty handy guide that could be helpful.

How is Facebook planning to combat the oh-so-vital tracking functionality that's hindering its so vital ad business? It seems Mark Zuckerberg's company is working on “new advertising features that require less data to measure an ad’s success.” It seems that Facebook is also exploring other methods of delivering ads based on collecting data that's stored on an user's iPhone. 

“Apple’s policy is hurting the ability of businesses to use their advertising budgets efficiently and effectively, and the limitations being created are driven by Apple’s restrictions for their own benefit,” a Facebook salesperson revealed. “We believe that personalized ads and user privacy can coexist.”

Apple and Facebook haven't been on the best of terms recently, so to speak, as Zuckerberg's social network isn't taking Cupertino's privacy aspirations too kindly. While iOS no longer feels a welcome space for advertisers using Facebook, another key player could be benefiting from the change. As Android is still lacking an alternative to app tracking, advertisers have been flocking to the platform in a bid to regain their ground.