Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 to Developers With Anti-Tracking Requirement

Apple today seeded the first betas of new iOS and iPadOS 14.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, a week after releasing the iOS 14.4 update with bug fixes and feature updates.

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iOS and iPadOS 14.5 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

iOS 14.5 is the update where Apple will begin enforcing its App Tracking Transparency privacy feature, which will require app developers to ask for and receive a user's permission to access their random advertising identifier (known as the IDFA) to track user activity across apps and websites.

app tracking transparency prompt ios 14
Going forward, when an app wants to access the IDFA, users will see a prompt with options to "Allow Tracking" or "Ask App Not to Track." These features have already been implemented in iOS 14 and they are available to developers, but with iOS 14.5, they will be required rather than voluntary.

Selecting "Ask App Not to Track" will prevent the app's developer from accessing the user's IDFA, and developers will also have to respect the user's tracking preference and refrain from using other methods to track users. Disobeying this rule could cause an app to face removal from the App Store. Tracking preferences can be managed by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking.

app tracking settings ios 14
There's no word yet on what else might be included in the iOS 14.5 update, but it likely focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes for issues that weren't able to be addressed in the iOS 14.4 release. When we've downloaded the update and found what's new, we'll add an update to this article.

Apple has said iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 will be released to the public in the early spring.

Related Forum: iOS 14

Top Rated Comments

thadoggfather Avatar
37 months ago
Doesn't it beg the question... why we are only now getting anti-tracking features in the year 2021?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Smoovejayy Avatar
37 months ago
You don’t see other companies implementing it...
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BGPL Avatar
37 months ago
A simple Allow or Not Allow... wish the cookie tracking requirement on web browsers was this easy.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bobmans Avatar
37 months ago
There should be an option in iPhone settings that just auto denies all apps the permission to track me.

edit: I'm stupid, apparently turning off "Allow app to request to track" automatically denies all tracking requests, which is exactly what I need. Apple could've made that a little more clear, had to click read more and scroll through a wall of text to figure out that turning it off actually auto denies.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
honghai2196 Avatar
37 months ago

There should be an option in iPhone settings that just auto denies all apps the permission to track me.
You just switch OFF "Allow App to Request to Track" option and it will automatically deny all app tracking requests
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
37 months ago
Good. Facebook can go pound sand.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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