Facebook Says Impact of iOS 14.5's App Tracking Transparency Will Be 'Manageable'

Facebook today announced its earnings for the first calendar quarter of 2021, and during the call discussing the results, Facebook executives confirmed that Apple's App Tracking Transparency will have a "manageable" impact on Facebook's business starting in the second quarter.

Apple vs Facebook feature
As highlighted by ZDNet, Facebook CFO Dave Wehner said that Facebook is expecting "increased ad targeting headwinds in 2021 from regulatory and platform changes, notably the recently launched iOS 14.5 update." iOS 14.5 is the update that includes App Tracking Transparency, and it requires app developers to ask for express permission before accessing the IDFA for tracking users across apps and websites.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg went on to explain that Facebook is doing a "huge amount of work" to prepare for the changes to personalized advertising, including rebuilding elements of its advertising platform and making the case that "personalized advertising is good for people and businesses."

We're doing a huge amount of work to prepare. We're working with our customers to implement Apple's API and our own aggregated events measurement API to mitigate the impact of the iOS 14 changes. We're rebuilding meaningful elements of our ad tech so that our system continues to perform when we have access to less data in the future.

And we're part of long-term collaborations with industry bodies like the W3C on initiatives like privacy enhancing technologies that provide personalized experiences while limiting access to people's information. It's also on us to keep making the case that personalized advertising is good for people and businesses, and to better explain how it works so that businesses don't have to understand the alphabet soup of acronyms they'll need to comply with. But they do need to have confidence that they can still use our tools to reach the people who want to buy what they're selling in a privacy-safe way. We're confident they can and that they can continue to get great results as digital advertising evolves.

Wehner said that he believes the impact to Facebook's "own business" will be manageable, and that the company's goal is to maintain and improve ad performance with less data. He also took the opportunity to criticize Apple's platform, and said that Facebook is also facing problems from Apple's private APIs that advantage Apple's own products and services.

Overall, the impact of these specific iOS 14 changes are one element of some of the challenges with Apple, but we think the impact of the Apple approach is really much bigger than this particular update. Apple has a number of private APIs on hardware and software that advantage their own products and services in ways that are challenging. We face that issue in places like our messaging products, and even with the hardware products we're launching. So we generally don't think this closed approach is the best one for the industry from an innovation perspective.

Prior to the enforcement of App Tracking Transparency, Facebook launched a campaign attempting to position Apple as an enemy of small businesses, going as far to take out full page newspaper ads decrying the new feature. "Apple's latest update threatens the personalized ads that millions of small businesses rely on to find and reach customers," reads Facebook's site encouraging small businesses to "add their voice" and speak out against ATT.

There had been questions about Facebook's narrative and how much of an impact the changes would actually have on small businesses, and even Facebook employees felt that Facebook was just using a sympathetic message to "justify doing a bad thing."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in March began downplaying the potential impact of App Tracking Transparency and said that the changes could ultimately benefit Facebook if Apple's new policies encourage businesses to advertise and sell exclusively through Facebook platforms.

Facebook has already begun rolling out its App Tracking Transparency prompt to Facebook users, but the rollout will take a few weeks, so not everyone will see the prompt at the current time.

Popular Stories

apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
top stories 2025 07 12

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, iOS 26 Beta 3, and More

Saturday July 12, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
The iOS 26 public beta release is quickly approaching, while developers have recently gotten their hands on a third round of betas that has seen Apple continue to tweak features, design, and functionality. We're also continuing to hear rumors about the iPhone 17 lineup that is now just about right around the corner, while Apple's latest big-budget film appears to be taking off, so read on...

Top Rated Comments

BWhaler Avatar
55 months ago
Sheryl Sandberg & Zuck. The tobacco executives of the digital age.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
55 months ago
so all that talk before was pure BS?

shocking...
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kenni417 Avatar
55 months ago
yes i’m sure it will, zucc
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheWatchfulOne Avatar
55 months ago
App tracking transparency will be manageable for FaceBook? Sounds like Apple needs to try harder.?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Corsig Avatar
55 months ago
Then why all the full page newspaper ads?? Something tells me Zuck is full of it
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JungeQuex Avatar
55 months ago

I'm so glad that other than Instagram (that's just useful for my job), Facebook hasn't been a part of my life since 2014
Pretty much. I left Facebook around the same time. However, I made the huge mistake of going back around 2018, and jumped on the social media bandwagon in order to promote some pages.

Anyway, the entire place is a pretty nasty hive of politics and bad will towards one another. Years ago, Facebook was a great way to stay in touch with your friends. Now? It’s a great way to help drive former friends apart.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)