Apple iOS17 strengthens privacy protection and introduces a new feature: automatically deleting tracking parameters from website links

Apple iOS17 strengthens privacy protection and introduces a new feature: automatically deleting tracking parameters from website links

On June 10th, the website owner's home (ChinaZ. com) reported:Apple iOS17 and macOSSonoma have added more privacy protection features when browsing web pages.

Link tracking protection is a new feature that is automatically activated in private browsing mode for emails, messages, and Safari. It detects user recognizable tracking parameters in link URLs and automatically deletes them.

Adding tracking parameters to links is a way for advertisers and analysis companies to try to track users' activities on the website. Instead of storing third-party cookies, tracking identifiers can only be added to the end of the page URL to work. This will bypass the Safari standard's intelligent tracking protection feature, which will prevent cross site cookies and other session storage methods.

When navigating to the URL, the destination's analysis or advertising service will read the URL, extract the same unique parameters, and associate them with their back-end user configuration File association to provide personalized advertising.

Apple is working hard to curb this behavior on its operating system this year. Safari will automatically detect which parts of the URL are recognizable and only delete those parts, keeping the remaining parts of the URL complete, so that you can still access the webpage you plan to visit.

This process is automatically performed during browser navigation in Safari private browsing mode and when users click on links from email and information applications.

As a partial mitigation measure, Apple is implementing an alternative method for advertisers to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns in Safari private browsing mode. Private click measurement allows advertisers to track conversion metrics for advertising campaigns, but does not display individual user activities to protect user privacy.