iPhone: iOS 14.5 anti-tracking won’t work, Apple keeps spying on you

Last year, Apple dropped a small bombshell on iPhone users and big tech companies. Cupertino company introduced its anti-tracking system with iOS 14.5. The principle is simple: when an app is about to collect personal data for advertising purposes, the iPhone warns its owner and asks if they agree to be tracked. Since then, Apple has established itself as a huge advocate of privacy and a sworn enemy of Facebook.

Ironically, Apple doesn’t seem to respect their own rules. On Twitter, two developers from cybersecurity company Mysk shared a rather disturbing discovery. They caught Apple red-handed in the process of collecting user data in their apps, while their iPhones running iOS 14.6 were configured so that no data could be sent to a third party.

Apple does not follow its own privacy policies

Among the collected data we find the device used, screen resolution, keyboard type, network connection, in short, anything that makes it possible to create a digital fingerprint of an average user. That’s exactly what iOS 14.5 tried to prevent with its anti-tracking system. “As the user browses the App Store, detailed data is sent to Apple at the same time. This data contains identifiers that allow behavior to be associated with a profile.explain the developers.

They add that the data in question is collected from native iPhone apps such as the Stock Exchange, Books, Apple Music, Apple TV or the iTunes Store. Strangely, no data was transferred from Health or Maps, no clear reason was given. Mysk says it’s currently unclear whether this tracking also happens in iOS 16.