iOS 14.5 will bring a big privacy feature to iPhone

App Tracking Transparency is on the way

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

We’re not expectingiOS 15to launch until September, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to do without new software features between now and then, asApplehas confirmed that a major new privacy feature is coming soon.

In a post on itsnewsroom, the company revealed that App Tracking Transparency will be available in Apple’s next beta update – and given thatiOS 14.4is now available, that beta is presumably for iOS 14.5.

This feature, which will apparently roll out broadly in ‘early spring’ (likely meaning March), requires apps to get your permission before tracking your activity and data across apps and websites owned by other companies.

Once the feature launches, you’ll be asked whether you give your permission for this when you launch an app that would usually share your data – so you have to specifically opt in. And Apple will require apps to allow you full access to their functionality even if you opt out.

This change will particularly affect services like Facebook, which shares your data with businesses to allow for personalized adverts. Indeed, Facebook has already argued against the change,claiming that it will hurt small businesses.

But it certainly sounds like it will give users more control over their data and privacy, which sounds like a good thing to us. The App Tracking Transparency feature will be launching foriPadOS 14andtvOS 14too, and Apple’s own apps and services will also sport it.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

A newly reported iPhone phenomenon could be bad news for both cops and robbers

The iPhone 18 series could include a variable aperture, ‘significantly enhancing’ the camera

NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, November 10 (game #252)