Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by greglindahl 2231 days ago
Apple's identifier can't be turned off; you can manually change it as often as you like, but it involves enough clicks that I bet few people do.
2 comments
gingerlime 2231 days ago
It can be turned off (although I think under the hood they just send zeros).

But it’s on by default.

https://blog.gingerlime.com/2020/does-apple-care-about-your-...

EDIT also https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074

link
greglindahl 2231 days ago
I looked at your link and I did not see how it could be turned off. It doesn't really say what Limit Ad Tracking does. You'd think that if it caused your advertising ID to be zeroes, then Reset Advertising Identifier would be greyed out if you turned on Limit Ad Tracking.

OK, so your new link @ Apple is more clear, and I do vaguely recall seeing this years ago: for all modern iOS versions, Limit Ad Tracking does set the Ad ID to all zeroes.

link
fredski 2231 days ago
Here is how it works in more detail: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205223
link
TheArcane 2231 days ago
> When Limit Ad Tracking is enabled on iOS 10 or later, the Advertising Identifier is replaced with a non-unique value of all zeros to prevent the serving of targeted ads. It is automatically reset to a new random identifier if you disable Limit Ad Tracking.
link
gingerlime 2231 days ago
I think they are deliberately making things confusing. Also the double negative thing which is not very typical for other settings.

I added a link to an Apple support doc which to me suggests that limit = off (or it’s an even bigger conspiracy than I thought, but I’m not that paranoid)

link
als0 2231 days ago
I don't interpret "Limit Ad Tracking" as "off".

As another comment mentioned, the only effective mechanism is to reset the identifier periodically. That's not a disable mechanism, though.

link
weswpg 2230 days ago
> When Limit Ad Tracking is enabled on iOS 10 or later, the Advertising Identifier is replaced with a non-unique value of all zeros to prevent the serving of targeted ads. It is automatically reset to a new random identifier if you disable Limit Ad Tracking.

Shouldn't that be enough?

link
joemazerino 2231 days ago
Apple identifiers can't be turned off but they can be 'reset'.
link