Next StoryA SpaceX engineer who called himself ‘MillionaireMike’ has pleaded guilty to insider-trading charges. The Black Unity Apple Watch face will launch as part of the watchOS 9.3 and iOS 16.3 updates, which Apple has revealed will be coming the week of January 23. They’ve spent the last few months inadvertently telling investors and ad buyers that their product’s effectiveness and quality will be greatly diminished. Speaking in a Clubhouse chat on Thursday, Zuckerberg took a more positive stance regarding Facebook’s ability to thrive with the upcoming change. To add more to it, Facebook even started an ad campaign that is meant to convince Apple users to enable ad tracking in the past. The statements made by Zuckerberg are very different than what Facebook has been doing since Apple announced the privacy changes at WWDC 2020.
In the first two weeks of 2021, the top 10 casual games saw 80 million downloads. The new Google Play Store design arrives, killing off the hamburger menu for good. An in-app message tells you that those menu items have been moved to your profile icon, which, when tapped, brings up a condensed menu. Some have complained the changes are making menu items and options harder to find. Apple this week released its seventh betas for iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5 and other platforms, including Apple TV and Apple Watch — iOS 14.5 brings the rollout of App Tracking Transparency, which is why Apple is probably taking its time with this one. Facebook’s internal R&D group, NPE Team, this week launched its latest experiment, Hotline, into public beta testing.
In a future iOS 14 update that’s expected at some point this spring, Apple will roll out a new feature that alerts users when an app tries to track their activity across other apps and websites — the type of data tracking used for advertising. There’s an option to allow tracking like normal, but there’s also an option to deny the request. While this is a huge step forward for user privacy, it hasn’t been taken very well by certain companies. With a growing suite of e-commerce products, Facebook may actually gain more share of business from small online retailers and those that don’t yet have much of an online presence. That could make them more reliant on Facebook ads to drive traffic and sales, and boost revenue for the social network.
Android Auto apps can now be launched into production, Google announced this week, following months of testing. That means developers can now publish apps for navigation, striped crochet blanket patterns parking and charging to Google Play without needing to sign up for a beta program. This week, Apple made it clear that “no tracking” without permission means just that.
The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he’s happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool’s premium services.
Epic also says that allowing Apple to serve customers’ refund requests leads to fraud because it doesn’t have the same visibility into the developer’s content that the developer itself does. Zuckerberg has been a strong critic of Apple’s latest privacy feature that provides app tracking transparency and is slated to debut with iOS 14.5 soon. The social media giant has claimed that this privacy feature could deal a huge blow to ad tech companies and hamper the growth of small businesses. Apple’s upcoming privacy changes will inform users about device ID tracking and ask them if they want to allow it. The tracking is based on a unique device identifier on every iPhone and iPad called the IDFA. Companies that sell mobile advertisements use this ID to help target ads and estimate their effectiveness.
You are not alone if you are having trouble sleeping, as every night millions of people toss and turn longing for a better night’s rest. The best sleep-tracking apps can help you relax, meditate, and start dreaming quicker. The actions of these companies nonetheless threaten to put Apple in a difficult position. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was until recently opposed to Apple’s iOS 14 privacy feature because it limits advertisement tracking, is now saying that it could benefit his company.
