Apple strengthens privacy protection, iOS 17 can automatically block tracking parameters on websites

With iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma, Apple brings users more in-depth privacy protection features.

In the new version of the system, Apple has launched a link tracking protection feature that can protect you from data tracking by other companies in private browsing mode, supporting mail, messages and Safari. Simply put, when it detects that the URL of the link you click contains user data tracking parameters, it will automatically delete them.

For advertisers and data analytics companies, adding tracking parameters to certain websites is an effective way to track user activities across websites.

Compared to normal parameters, such websites containing tracking codes will add a special tracking identifier at the end of the link. This method can bypass Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature (IT Home Note: This feature mainly blocks cross-site cookies and other session storage).

That is, when a website URL allows an analytics or advertising service at the destination to read the URL, it can extract those same unique parameters and associate them with a back-end user profile in a database, thereby tagging specific users and delivering personalized ads.

Apple is trying to combat this behavior in its next-generation operating system this year. Safari will automatically detect specific identifiers in URLs and remove these parts of the code, allowing users to browse the web normally without the risk of being tracked by advertisers.

As a compensatory measure, Apple provides advertisers with another way to measure advertising campaigns, namely Private Click Measurement, which allows advertisers to still measure advertising attribution in Safari private browsing mode without exposing user activities.