Annually, Apple organizes a developer conference to unveil their forthcoming operating systems across their product lineup. Typically, these software updates are made available for full release a few months afterwards, without any charge to the users. In 2021, Apple's yearly software launch introduced a fresh privacy feature known as Mail Privacy Protection. This feature meant that many marketers needed to rethink how the KPI open rate was used to measure performance as it would no longer be possible to obtain credible data from the target audience who use Apple products with that software.
Looking at Apple's own data on how quickly users update their devices with the latest software, these new features spread rapidly. In May, Apple shared stats about the number of active iOS devices and the software versions they currently use.
What is brewing now?
During September, Apple will be rolling out the 2023 edition of its software for all its products. With this update, Apple is about to make waves once more across the spectrum of marketing tools.
Within this update, Apple is unveiling a fresh security enhancement referred to as Link Tracking Protection. This safeguarding mechanism will find its way into Messages, Mail, and Safari's Private Browsing mode. Its primary function is to remove the supplementary components within a link's URL that are often appended by marketers and websites, aiming to trace a user's online journey.
How should I as a marketer react and adapt to these changes?
The full impact is still uncertain as of now, mainly because these changes to Safari's privacy features only affect Safari's Private Browsing mode. The new Link Tracking Protection specifically targets links shared via Mail, Messages, or those encountered within Safari's Private Browsing mode.
The big question is whether Apple will eventually expand these measures to cover all types of tracking parameters, or if some exceptions will be made.
To play it safe, make sure to test the links and parameter sets you use on devices that have been updated to the latest versions of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. This will help ensure that no important functionalities are disrupted when sharing information with other systems.
Delve into Apple's Privacy Showcase for a closer look at this new feature - watch the presentation here:
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10053/?time=1520
