Google’s Android will phase out mobile ad identifiers

The Alphabet-owned maker of the world’s most-used mobile operating system has announced that it will be bringing its Privacy Sandbox to its market leading Android OS, replacing advertising ID with a new solution that will curtail cross-app tracking.

Why it matters

The two largest and most significant mobile operating system operators are changing the way mobile internet advertising works. The change, which is slightly less radical than Apple’s Tracking Transparency feature, mounts further questions on Meta (FKA Facebook) whose business has been hit hard by Apple’s changes.

The details

Writing on the Android blog, Anthony Chavez, VP, Product Management, Android Security & Privacy, explained some of the changes.

“These solutions will limit sharing of user data with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers, including advertising ID.”

Chavez goes on to argue that other, “blunt” approaches – we might read Apple’s ATT here – have made little impact on privacy while hammering developers’ ad-supported business models.

The mobile system will build on the Privacy Sandbox and conceived for the Chrome browser. While Android hasn’t given a formal timeline, it says it will enter testing later this year.

An open approach

The news follows recent regulatory approval that the search company gained from the UK’s CMA to proceed with its Privacy Sandbox having made commitments to work with the industry and authorities to maintain oversight.

These include, as Alvarez notes, “ensuring that we don’t give preferential treatment to Google's ads products or sites”.

What it means

Unlike Apple, Google says it will try to provide guidance for developers around the change. As an ad company, it understands how important these changes are to an entire economy of developers.

“We don’t think there should be a forced choice between privacy and developers building their business,” Alvarez told the Wall Street Journal.  

However, it could also wreak more havoc on Meta whose ad business is expecting trouble at the hand of Apple’s ATT alongside a decline in users.

Sourced from Android, WSJ. Image: Google