Quote Originally Posted by GamesIndustry.biz Academy
The release of iOS 14.5 (rolled out on April 26) is set to disrupt the mobile industry, with Apple introducing its App Tracking Transparency feature and the ability for users to decide whether they want to share their IDFA (identifier for advertisers) with developers and therefore be tracked.

Throughout the coming weeks, the GamesIndustry.biz Academy will explore the impact of this change for mobile game developers through a series of guest articles from experts. If you're interested in contributing, you can email [email protected].
Mobile game developers love building great games.

They also want to make sure they are acquiring new players and optimising their games to monetise, so they can spend their time and money on improving player retention, tracking player behaviours and resources data, such as comparing the percentage resources used versus player level.

With this in mind, discussions around privacy have started to appear more and more in the mainstream media. Just last year, Apple launched new App Store privacy labels so users can see what data is collected by iOS apps.

Publishers and developers are realising that not only by meeting the demands of global data privacy regulations, but by exceeding them, they will have significant market opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Now, developers will also need to factor in impacts and actions they will need to take to maintain best practice with the latest iOS 14.5 release, in particular with third party marketing partners who distribute and maintain Software Developer Kits (SDKs) libraries.
An introduction to iOS 14.5 and its impact for mobile developers

The gaming app ecosystem is facing a shake-up now Apple's iOS 14.5 privacy rules have come into force. Adapting your mobile operations for these changes is a complex topic that will have serious ramifications for how you conduct business in iOS games going forward. While the changes have been long anticipated, it will become clearer over the next few weeks what the long-term effect will be.

Over the past year, we have been talking to a number of advertisers and ad networks about how they will be impacted by the changes. Something that is obvious from these conversations is that advertising will remain vital post-iOS 14.5.

But the consensus is that performance marketing will be less efficient due to a decrease in the ratio of deterministic data. With this in mind, here are some best practices to minimize the impact of iOS 14.5 on your gaming app strategy.
Hypercasual UA and ad monetization in a post-IDFA world