Apple Shares Hilarious New ‘Tracked’ Ad Showcasing App Tracking in Real World

BY Sanuj Bhatia

Published 20 May 2021

apple tracked ad app tracking transparency

Apple today shared a new ‘Tracked’ ad on its YouTube channel showcasing how the app tracking works in the real world, and what’s the importance of app tracking transparency.

Apple recently introduced the controversial app tracking transparency feature with iOS 14.5. This feature prevents advertisers from tracking the app usage of an iPhone user and limits them from showing personalized ads to the user. The company has now released a video ad showcasing why app tracking should be avoided.

In the ad, an iPhone user is shown grabbing a cup of coffee from the coffee shop. Then it’s shown that the barista follows him out as he gets in a cab and when the cab driver asks the main lead’s date of birth, the barista tells him. Then the cab driver also joins the barista in following him throughout the day.

Eventually, every person the protagonist meets joins the group — to show how services on top of each other keeps the track of user data. Finally, his iPhone comes to the rescue with App Tracking Transparency. As soon as the protagonist disables app tracking on his iPhone, people (trackers in the ad) start disappearing.

The ad is a part of Apple’s Privacy ad campaign and comes after a more explanatory App Tracking Transparency video, that was published in late April following the feature’s launch.

Have you enabled App Tracking Transparency on your iPhone? Let us know in the comments section below!