Apple Advertising seems to be on by default in iOS 14, while other advertisers and ad networks will have to ask for permission to track users
Is Apple playing fair? — Apple looks to be giving its own ad network a leg up on competitors with customer data that other ad networks can't access. Tweets: @eric_seufert , @eric_seufert , @eric_seufert , @eric_seufert , and @johnkoetsier See also Mediagazer Tweets: Eric Seufert / @eric_seufert : It looks like Apple is exempting its own ad network from the IDFA-related privacy changes in iOS14. iOS14 includes a separate setting for Apple Ads personalization: (1/X) https://twitter.com/... Eric Seufert / @eric_seufert : 3/ I questioned Apple's expansion of its ASA ad network back in May — I postulated that its own ad network could potentially be in a privileged position if the IDFA were to be deprecated https://mobiledevmemo.com/... Eric Seufert / @eric_seufert : 4/ I still dont think increasing ad revenue was a primary motivator behind IDFA deprecation, but this carve out of privacy permissions is provocative. What will FB say? Eric Seufert / @eric_seufert : 2/ This is the new Limit Ad Tracking toggle in iOS14. The text here is ominous! https://twitter.com/... John Koetsier / @johnkoetsier : “Apple risks its IDFA deprecation being seen not so much as a privacy-enhancing move made out of altruistic goodwill as a competitive strategy to improve its positioning against massive rivals.” https://www.forbes.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
When Apple announced in June that the IDFA would become opt-in with iOS 14, it framed the change as a privacy win for users and a loss for marketers. Eric Seufert's observation adds a wrinkle: iOS 14 ships with a separate Apple Ads personalization setting that is on by default, meaning Apple's own network keeps the personalization data third-party ad networks must now beg for.
First-order effects
- Third-party ad networks and the marketers who rely on IDFA lose targeting precision the moment users decline prompts, while Apple Ads retains default-on personalization — an asymmetry Seufert reads as Apple exempting itself from its own rule.
Second-order effects
- The ad industry's scramble for new targeting methods ahead of the IDFA changes now has to compete against a first-party incumbent with privileged data, and publishers like Zynga are responding by building their own first-party ad tech that sits outside Apple's reach.
Third-order effects
- If platform owners keep writing privacy rules that their own ad businesses clear by default, privacy becomes a competitive moat rather than a constraint — the pattern critics point to when they argue Apple's privacy posture leans on user effort rather than real restrictions, and the kind of self-preferencing that draws regulator attention to gatekeepers.
The trend: Mobile platform privacy controls are doubling as competitive moats, with first-party ad networks keeping by-default access to data that third parties must now earn through consent.