How to use iOS 14.5’s new app tracking blocker

Privacy is on everyone’s mind these days, and in iOS 14.5, which is starting to roll out to the public today, there are new privacy features that may make you feel happier but are not endearing Apple to some other companies — specifically Facebook.

The new feature is aptly called App Tracking Transparency. Many apps don’t just track your movements inside the app, but they track your movements outside of the app — in other words, where you go after you’ve left the app. This is why you see ads in Facebook and other apps for products you were just looking at on Amazon or other sites.

Before 14.5, you could turn tracking off for all of your apps by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking and turning off “Allow Apps to Request to Track.” The new version of iOS allows you to be more specific. To begin, when you install a new app, you won’t have to do anything; you’ll be automatically asked whether you want the new app to track you.

If you want to see which apps have asked for permission to track, and possibly change their tracking settings, you can just go to that same Tracking page. There, you will be able to give or revoke that permission. So:

• Go to your iPhone’s settings and select Privacy > Tracking
• Beneath “Allow Apps to Request to Track,” you’ll now see a list of specific apps that have asked for that permission. You can permit or revoke that permission for each specific app.

And you can still use “Allow Apps to Request to Track” to turn off permission for all of your current (and future) apps.