Google announces Android privacy changes but says they won't be as disruptive as Apple's iOS

Android privacy is set to undergo an overhaul soon - just like Apple's iOS, but Google is not providing a timeline for when these changes will arrive.

Google has announced that it is working on better privacy measures for Android aimed at limiting sharing of user data across apps. The move comes as a counteraction to Apple's introduction of strict privacy changes to iOS last year, but Google said changes in Android privacy will not be as disruptive as what Apple did.

Android privacy is set to undergo an overhaul soon, but Google is not providing a timeline for when these changes will arrive. Google said its new privacy restrictions will involve replacing advertising ID on Android devices. Advertising ID is a set of string characters that give a device its identity and help advertisers collect and share information about it. This information is shared with several firms in order to personalise advertisements.

Apple made a similar move last year when it introduced strict changes under the App Tracking Transparency feature to the iPhone software. The changes include permissions that every app has to take from users before tracking them, and users' choice to block tracking completely - something that jolted several big tech companies, such as Facebook (now called Meta), involved in targeted advertising. Meta, which rigorously fought Apple over new iOS changes last year, last month said iOS privacy changes cost it $10 billion this year in lost advertising revenue.

Google is planning a similar move, which will limit trackers from identifying Android devices for personalised advertising, but these upcoming changes will not be as effective. The tech giant said it will continue to support existing identifiers for the next two years, which translates into more time for these companies to make internal adjustments to be able to adapt to the changes later. Google also criticised Apple, although indirectly, for taking a rather blunt approach towards ad privacy.

We realise that other platforms have taken a different approach to ads privacy, bluntly restricting existing technologies used by developers and advertisers,” Anthony Chavez, Google Android vice president of product management, security and privacy, wrote in the blog post. “We believe that — without first providing a privacy-preserving alternative path — such approaches can be ineffective and lead to worse outcomes for user privacy and developer businesses.”

Google and Apple are the two biggest providers of smartphone software, so their decision to limit tracking on devices running their software is expected to impact the targeted advertising industry severely. Customers are becoming more aware of their right to protect their privacy and the tools available to them to implement that, as well.