Apple on Monday announced new changes, additions and updates to its App Store Guideline policies, one of which includes developer instructions for implementing App Tracking Transparency.
Detailed in a post to Apple s developer portal, the updates are in large part clarifications and modifications to existing rules governing payments, disclosures and app terminology.
One noted addition to Apple s ruleset covers App Tracking Transparency, a new iOS feature designed to give users more control over data privacy. Initially slated to debut in 2020, the upcoming feature opts users out of ad tracking by default. When opening an app for the first time, users will see a permission dialogue box with two selections: Allow Tracking and Ask Apps Not to Track.
This Week in Apps: GameStop madness hits trading apps, Apple privacy changes, Clubhouse becomes a unicorn
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.
The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone.
And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices.
The company warns that without the user's permission, "you will not be allowed to track them and the device's advertising identifier value will be all zeros."