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IDFA Sends All Zeros on iOS 10 Devices

Chris Farm

August 9, 2016

A few months ago, Apple announced that iOS 10 will send all zeros for itsadvertisingIdentiferfield when the device’s user sets their limit ad tracking flag toON.

According to Tenjin’s aggregate records, this represents ~15% of devices where IDFA will not be unique for a specific device.

As I noted in my last post about cookies, the IDFA is one of the primary ways for advertisers to track installs accurately. Since ~15% of devices will no longer be unique, these devices can no longer be tracked accurately.

Tenjin’s solution remains unaffected by this when users and ad networks allow cookies for tracking.

This is where cookies become relevant. By using URL links with cookies enabled, advertisers can continue to pass attribution data. Tenjin’s solution will remain unaffected by iOS 10 IDFA settings when both users and ad networks allow cookies for tracking.

Many years of use on the web have proved that cookies are a simple and reliable technology for marketers to track and understand ad spend, while still protecting user privacy. We believe that cookies are a strong solution for the future of mobile advertising.

Update: September 6, 2016
— We have removed the functionality to read cookies via a SafariViewController from the latest version of our iOS SDK in accordance with Apple’s App Store guidelines.

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