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Google said Wednesday it is working on privacy measures to limit data sharing on smartphones running Android software. But the company has promised that these changes won’t be as devastating as a similar move Apple made last year.
Changes Apple made to the iOS software on iPhones required users’ permission before allowing advertisers to track them. Apple’s permission controls – and ultimately, users’ decision to block tracking – a profound effect at internet companies that are building businesses on so-called targeted advertising.
Google didn’t offer an exact timeline for its changes, but said it would support existing technologies for at least two more years.
This month, Meta, the company founded as Facebook, said that Apple’s privacy changes will cost it. $10 billion this year in lost ad revenue. The revelation weighed on Meta’s stock price and raised concerns about other companies that rely on digital advertising.
Anthony Chavez, vice president of Google’s Android division, said in an interview before the announcement that it was too early to quantify the potential impact of Google’s changes, which aim to limit data sharing between apps and with third parties. However, he stressed that the company’s goal is to find a more tailored option for users and at the same time allow developers to continue earning ad revenue.
Google and Apple, the world’s two largest providers of smartphone software, have a significant impact on what mobile apps can do on billions of devices. Changes to increase privacy or give users more control over their data, which is a growing demand from customers, regulators and politicians, imposes a cost on companies that collect data to sell personalized ads based on a user’s interests and demographics.
The changes from Google and Apple are significant because digital advertising based on data about users has powered the internet for the past 20 years. However, this business model is facing more challenges as users become more skeptical about large-scale data collection amid a general distrust of tech giants.
The difference in approaches between Apple and Google also shows how each company makes most of its money. While Apple derives most of its revenue from device sales, Google makes its money largely from the sale of digital ads and may be more open to considering the needs of advertisers.
Google said it plans to bring Project Sandbox, the company’s privacy initiative, which is essentially limited to reducing tracking in the company’s Chrome browser, to Android, the world’s most widely used software for mobile devices. Google had to revamp the so-called cookies elimination approacha tracking tool is meeting resistance from privacy groups and advertisers in Chrome.
Google said it is proposing some new privacy-focused approaches on Android to allow advertisers to measure the performance of their ad campaigns and display personalized ads based on past behavior or recent interests, and new tools to limit incognito tracking through apps. Google didn’t offer much in detail on how these new alternatives would work.
As part of the changes, Google said it plans to phase out Advertising ID, an Android tracking feature that helps advertisers know if users have clicked on an ad or purchased a product, as well as track their interests and activities. Google said it already allows users to opt out of personalized ads by removing the tracking identifier.
The company said it plans to eliminate identifiers used in advertising on Android for everyone, including Google. Mr. Chavez said Google’s own apps will not have exclusive or privileged access to Android data or features without specifying how this will work. This reflects Google’s promise to UK regulators that it will not give preferential treatment to its products.
The company did not provide a definitive timeline for eliminating Advertising ID, but committed to keeping the current system in place for two years. Google said it will make preview versions of its new offerings available to advertisers before releasing a more complete test version this year.
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