Developers say Apple will track all the content that users click on when browsing App Store

CTOnews.com, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) Apple has always regarded privacy as a "human right," and the company has never liked the idea of advertising on its platform. But as App Store adds new advertising space, some people are starting to worry that Apple's policy may change. Now, some developers find that change seems to have come, and Apple may track all the content that users click on while browsing the App Store.

Two developers and security researchers calling themselves "Mysk" raised privacy concerns about App Store getting more ads and revealed that iOS sent Apple detailed logs of how users interact with App Store.

As you can see from the image below, Mysk says the data includes detailed information about where the user clicked on the screen, which is sent to Apple in real time through an JSON file. Mysk also said Apple has been tracking users' behavior in App Store since the release of iOS 14.6 in May 2021.

CTOnews.com learned that, according to Mysk, Apple introduced App tracking transparency in iOS 14.5, which requires App to obtain user consent before tracking user privacy. But in the next version, iOS 14.6, Apple introduced the ability to track user clicks for App Store.

Apple has not officially explained how to use the data, but it is adding content to its App Store ads. In August, Bloomberg Mark Gurman said Apple hopes to nearly triple its current advertising revenue to at least $10 billion a year in the future.

"Apple App Store begins to show more ads: cover the" Today "home page and the" you might like it "section, and the national area will not be affected for the time being.