IOS 14 Asking Permission to Track - ios

We have integrated Facebook iOS SDK and Firebase to our iOS APP.
Facebook SDK is being used for analytics and Firebase is being used to monitor for crashes and performance issues.
At no point, these SDKs are used to display any advertisements for the users and we do not share any personal details of users such as email address, age, address, etc. with these SDKs.
We are confused about whether we should ask for user permission for tracking or not under the new privacy requirements of iOS 14. Can somebody shed some light on this?

Related

Is the requestTrackingAuthorization only needed for IDFA?

I am getting confused if we have to show the requestTrackingAuthorization prompt or not. I thought it needs to be shown when third parties collect any data. Not I got the information from onesignal (which we use for push-notifications) that although they collect date the prompt is for their SDK not needed because they don't collect IDFA.
So in other words: Is IDFA the true reason to show the prompt and other data not?
Thanks
Andreas
Based on Apple's User Privacy and Data Use Website, it is said:
Starting with iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, you’ll need to receive the user’s permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework to track them or access their device’s advertising identifier. Tracking refers to the act of linking user or device data collected from your app with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes.
In the simple way, IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) is required if you need to show more personalized ads. As far as I know, based on my experience I need IDFA to show more personalized ads in Google Mobile Ads SDK (AdMob). To achieve this, i have to show App Tracking prompt. When user choose to allow, the SDK can track user and show user more relevan ads. If user choose to not allow tracking, the ads are still showing but maybe less relevan and less personalized.
You have to know what data being collected by OneSignal, because in the end you have to write all them down in App Privacy section in App Store Connect if you want to upload your app to App Store. Since I have no experience using OneSignal, sorry i'm not sure what data they are collecting.
Google has good website documentation about App Tracking policy in iOS 14 to prepare iOS 14 app tracking policy. OneSignal also has Apple App Privacy Requirement.
It is said:
As OneSignal is a third-party to your app, you’ll need to ensure you are properly disclosing to your users the ways you are using OneSignal in regards to their data.
So basically, you have to disclose and write all data collected by OneSignal in App Privacy section when you want to upload your app to App Store. OneSignal collect Purchase and Product Interaction automatically by default. Maybe you use more data type, you have to disclose them.
OneSignal does not collect IDFA as of iOS SDK version 2.16.0*.
*IDFA and IDFV are no longer captured by the OneSignal iOS SDK as of version 2.16.0 and 3.0.0 beta cut 4. If you’re using an older version of the SDK prior to 2.16.0, you will need to disclose this as collected data.
According to the documentation, OneSignal doesn't require you to implement App Tracking prompt since OneSignal does not collect IDFA as of iOS SDK version 2.16.0. Yes, right! You no need to implement App Tracking, assuming that you are only using OneSignal in your app project.
But if you also use other SDK which needs IDFA to work best such as Google Mobile Ads, you need to implement it.

Apple App Tracking Transparency and Google Analytics

The recent WWDC Apple launched "App Tracking Transparency framework" and will be a part of iOS 14.3:
With iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14, you will need to receive the
user’s permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework to
track them or access their device’s advertising identifier. Tracking
refers to the act of linking user or device data collected from your
app with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps,
websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or
advertising
It's very vague information from Apple and Google how App Tracking Transparency will handle Google Analytics. Anyone know if ATT will affect the usage of Google Analytics in iOS14?
From Firebase documentation:
Analytics event logging, event reporting, and conversion measurement are unaffected, but attribution is impacted if IDFA is not accessible. To learn more about Google’s response to iOS 14, see our blog post.
You can see all affected Firebase products here:
https://firebase.google.com/docs/ios/supporting-ios-14

iOS apps authentication and API

I am pretty much newbie in iOS app developments. I have a question about authentication from iOS app.
Consider Android where a Google account is mandatory for each device and using the same account we can authenticate in any Android application.
Is there any similar approach available in iOS? May be using that we can authenticate user directly into iPhone application?
Apple provides iCloud features for authentication purposes. It lets you save data and files in iCloud storage and it will be synced between all devices logged in with the same iCloud account.
If you want to keep using your Google accounts on iOS devices as well there is no native way of doing so. However there are several libraries and pods available for this purpose. Google has a good SDK for working with Google Authentication and it is well documented as well.
https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/ios/start-integrating

Google Analytics for iOS App shows sessions from android device

I have distributed an app outside the apple app store.
To distribute the app, i have taken help from the following link.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/23561783/4549304
I have also integrated Google analytics into my app which shows 1 session started on an android device.
I have following questions
How is this possible, Is this google analytics bug, or something else?
Is there any way to prevent this?

Can I use Facebook advertising for an iOS app without having the SDK integrated?

I have my app already sent for App Store review few days ago. I just noticed that Facebook advertising requires the Facebook SDK to be integrated with the app. Is it a compulsory step? Or can I use Facebook advertising without having the Facebook SDK?
From Facebook
Can I run mobile app ads without using the SDK?
Yes, we allow anyone to run mobile app install ads from our Ads Create Tool simply by dropping the link to their Apple App Store or Google Play URL. For mobile app engagement ads, you will need to register your app, but can also run ads without the SDK.
However, without installing and using the SDK, Facebook will not be able to provide install or app event reporting, and thus you will not have the option to use more advanced bidding options (oCPM, CPA) or see performance beyond clicks.

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