Did you just get an iPhone 5 or upgrade to iOS 6? Here’s how to stop advertisers from tracking you
Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone 5 is the fastest-selling smartphone of all time thanks in part to pent-up demand for a sleek new design. The new iPhone also ships with iOS 6, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, and packs more than 200 new features compared to the previous version of iOS. Among those features is a new option in the device’s settings that allows users to limit ad tracking, which prevents advertising networks from tracking iOS device owners’ usage and utilizing that data to serve targeted ads.
The setting is left off by default but iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners who wish to prevent ad networks from collecting personal data and using it to serve them targeted advertisements can block ad tracking by opening the Settings app and going to General, then About. Scrolling down to Advertising and turning “Limit Ad Tracking” on will enable the feature.
Once turned on, ad networks will not have access to usage data or a device’s unique advertising identifier, which would otherwise be utilized to track a user and serve targeted ads. It should be noted that Apple does not yet require that all apps use the new advertising identifier in place of the previous tracking method (which uses device UDIDs), so some apps may continue to serve targeted ads until this requirement is put in place.
BGR recently reviewed the iPhone 5 and called it a class leader in almost every category.
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