Apple warns Chinese tech companies not to bypass transparency rules for app tracking

Apple is cracking down on Chinese tech companies working on ways to bypass upcoming app tracking transparency rules, reports Financial times

Starting with iOS 14.5, Apple plans to require app developers to obtain explicit user consent before accessing an iPhone’s advertising ID or IDFA, and earlier this week news suggested the state-sponsored China Advertising Association tested a tool to bypass Apple’s rules.

Apple on Thursday sent warnings to at least two Chinese app developers using methods to track app usage without user consent. “We have determined that your app is collecting user and device data to create a unique identifier for the user’s device,” reads Apple’s email, telling the developer to update the app within 14 days to comply with the App Store rules, otherwise you risk being removed from the Store app.

According to Financial timesthe app developer in question used a tool called CAID, which was developed by the aforementioned China Advertising Association. The China Advertising Association said this week that CAID does not “violate” Apple’s privacy policy, but that may not be accurate given the warnings Apple sent out today.

A veteran of the Chinese marketing industry said Financial times that “companies big and small” in China are all considering CAID, but Apple’s recent actions “will put an end to these tests.” Some of the largest technology companies in China, such as Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent, are all testing or implementing CAID to identify users.

For example, ByteDance has recommended that developers use the SDK to issue CAID1 and CAID2 IDs. One is based on a user’s IP address and the other is based on the phone’s IMEI, which is a unique identification number. The CAID1 and CAID2 IDs violate Apple rules because they do not ask for user consent before collecting this information. ByteDance has also recommended that developers use “fingerprints and probabilistic matching” to identify users, which also violates the App Store guidelines for app tracking transparency.

The China Advertising Association said it is developing additional services that collect and store users’ personal information to create a “fingerprint” for each person. Each app using the CAID system collects user data and sends it to a central server to create a CAID identifier that will be used for user identification between apps. The CAA claims that users can opt out of CAID, but Apple’s definitions don’t allow it in the first place.

Tech experts believe that Chinese apps plan to tweak their apps in “myriad ways” to get past the Apple App Store review team, one comparing it to a “cat and mouse” game. Apple has said several times that apps that don’t take user preferences into account when it comes to ad tracking will be rejected, which could lead to problems with Chinese companies and the Chinese government in the future.

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