Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) Framework & Ongoing iOS Privacy Changes

GUIDE:

Overview

What You Can Do

The Impact 

What Does This Look Like for Consumers? 

Overview

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework is now fully enforced across all supported iOS and iPadOS versions. Under ATT, apps must obtain explicit user permission before tracking their activity across apps or websites owned by other companies. This significantly limits access to Apple’s device identifier for advertisers (IDFA) unless a user opts in.

Apple has continued to strengthen privacy controls since the original iOS 14 release, including expanded privacy disclosures, Private Relay, Mail Privacy Protection, and new privacy manifests in iOS 17+. These updates continue to reduce device-level signals and emphasize aggregated, consent-based data.

ATT primarily impacts campaigns dependent on mobile in-app inventory and device-based identity. Choozle continuously monitors delivery and performance across mobile environments and updates our targeting, measurement, and identity solutions to help maintain scale and effectiveness.

What You Can Do

For marketers targeting specific in-app inventory, here are a few steps we recommend marketers can take as a result of this change:

1. Prioritize People-Based Third-Party Data
   Choose audience segments built on persistent, people-based identifiers (e.g., hashed email, first-party identity, purchase data) rather than segments relying solely on mobile ad IDs (IDFAs/AAIDs), which now have limited availability on iOS.
2. Leverage Cross-Device Targeting
   Cross-device providers have evolved toward deterministic and people-based identity graphs. Using cross-device targeting helps offset the reduction in deterministic device signals from iOS by extending reach across desktop, mobile web, and opted-in in-app environments.
3. Activate First-Party Audiences via CRM Onboarding
   Import CRM lists and first-party data to maintain addressability as mobile identifiers decline. Identity partners map first-party identifiers across devices and channels, enabling you to reach users in in-app environments without depending on cookies or device-level IDs.
4. Expand Use of Contextual Targeting Where Appropriate
   Contextual targeting has become increasingly relevant for mobile environments due to reduced behavioral tracking on iOS. This can help maintain reach and performance when audience-based scale is limited.
5. Monitor SKAdNetwork Measurement Expectations
   While Choozle does not rely on SKAdNetwork for execution, marketers should be aware that attribution for iOS in-app inventory increasingly depends on Apple’s aggregated SKAdNetwork framework, particularly for app-install campaigns.

The Impact 

The industry has seen widespread opt-out from tracking prompts, meaning IDFA availability on iOS is significantly reduced. As a result:

• Scale may be lower for campaigns relying heavily on in-app mobile inventory that previously required device-level identifiers.

• Measurement and attribution may shift toward aggregated or modeled outcomes instead of deterministic device-based reporting.

• Audience providers now rely more heavily on first-party data, people-based identifiers, and probabilistic or contextual approaches.

• Impact varies by campaign strategy, depending on reliance on device-level targeting, in-app inventory, and mobile identity signals.

Choozle’s optimizations and identity partnerships help mitigate these effects wherever possible.

What Does This Look Like for Consumers?