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Google will let Android users opt-out from being tracked by advertisers through the apps installed on their devices.
As part of an update to Google Play Services in late 2021, the tech giant will let Android users opt-out of “interest-based advertising or ads personalisation” by removing the advertising ID of the user in Android Settings. Any attempts to access the identifier will receive a string of zeros instead of the identifier.
“The advertising ID is a unique, user-resettable ID for advertising, provided by Google Play services,” Google explained in a support article.
“It gives users better controls and provides developers with a simple, standard system to continue to monetise their apps. It enables users to reset their identifier or opt-out of personalised ads (formerly known as interest-based ads) within Google Play apps,” it further explained.
The update comes months after Apple rolled out a feature allowing users to opt-out of tracking with the release of iOS 14.5 earlier this year. However, Google has taken a relatively different approach. While Apple shows pop-up messages on each app informing users and letting them decide if they want to be tracked, Android users will receive notifications for opt-out preferences.
“To help developers and ad/analytics service providers with compliance efforts and respect user choice, they will be able to receive notifications for opt-out preferences. Additionally, apps targeting Android 12 will need to declare a Google Play services normal permission in the manifest file,” it said.
This Google Play services phased rollout will affect apps running on Android 12 devices starting late 2021 and will expand to affect apps running on devices that support Google Play in early 2022. In July, it will provide an alternate solution to support essential use cases such as analytics and fraud prevention, it said.
Privacy feature
Separately, Google has also announced a new privacy feature for apps on Google Play Store which will be implemented next year.
Somewhat similar to Apple’s privacy ‘nutrition label’ feature, Google will introduce a new safety section in Google Play that will “help people understand the data an app collects or shares, if that data is secured, and additional details that impact privacy and security.”
In addition to the data an app collects or shares, it is introducing new elements to highlight whether an app has security practices, like data encryption, if it follows its Families policy, if it needs this data to function or if users have a choice in sharing it.
It will also display if the app’s safety section is verified by an independent third party and if it enables users to request data deletion if they decide to uninstall.
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