Apple says new privacy notices will be rolled out in “ early spring. ”

(Reuters) – Apple Inc said on Thursday that new privacy pop-up notifications will appear on most iPhones as soon as it is “early spring,” a requirement major digital ad agencies like Facebook Inc have warned will hurt their business.

The one-time notices require an app developer to request a user’s consent before the app tracks activity “on other companies’ apps and websites.” Digital advertising experts believe that the warning will cause many users to deny consent.

Apple announced the move last June, but said in September that it would delay the change to give digital advertisers more time to adapt.

Facebook said in December that it plans to show the popup notification because it did not want Apple iPhone users to lose access to its apps.

During a earnings call on Wednesday, Facebook executives told investors the change could hurt the company’s first quarter earnings, with Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg accusing Apple of “having all the incentives to use their dominant platform position to interfere with how. our apps and other apps work. “

Apple announced on Wednesday that it has an active installed base of 1.65 billion devices, including more than 1 billion iPhones, with 620 million paid subscribers on its devices.

For its part, Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Tuesday that it would stop practices, including the use of an Apple-supplied tracking ID, where it should display the warning and thus avoid it.

Apple has said it offers free alternative technology that allows advertisers to attribute paid clicks and taps without bothering with what Apple considers tracking.

Google said Tuesday it is proactively working with Apple to improve its alternative offering.

Apple said on Wednesday that it will roll out new tools such as a way to attribute clicks to video ads.