LinkedIn stops collecting tracking data ahead of iOS 14 changes
The company won't collect IDFA information "for now."
LinkedIn will stop collecting IDFA data on iOS. The move comes ahead of a policy change Apple will implement with the release of iOS 14.5 later this year that will require developers to ask someone’s permission before they use that data to track them across apps and websites.
“We have decided to stop our iOS apps’ collection of IDFA data for now.” the company said in a blog post spotted by iMore. LinkedIn expects the change will have a “limited” impact on how ads perform and won’t translate to a drastic change in how advertisers run their campaigns.
LinkedIn’s approach differs from the one Facebook has taken in response to the upcoming policy. Facebook came out against the permission requirement shortly after Apple announced it at WWDC 2020, claiming it will hurt its revenue and that of all the small to medium-sized businesses that depend on its ad network. In February, it took the additional step of asking iOS users to opt into activity tracking before the change goes into effect. For its part, it appears LinkedIn hopes to avoid the type of PR headache it ran into last year when it was sued for "secretly" reading iOS clipboard data.
