• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 27, 2021

Google released a statement Wednesday alerting developers and brands to Apple’s upcoming App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy. It said the company is working to understand and comply with Apple’s guidelines for all apps in its App Store.

ATT will require developers to ask for permission when they use certain information from other companies’ apps and websites for advertising purposes, even if they already have user consent.

As developers and advertisers working with iOS adapt to the new policy, Google also is attempting to help them prepare.

Apple's ATT changes will reduce visibility into Google's key metrics that show how ads drive conversions, such as app installs and sales. It will also affect how advertisers value and bid on ad impressions, Christophe Combette, group product manager, at Google Ads, wrote in a blog post.

He explains app publishers may see a significant impact to their Google ad revenue on iOS after Apple’s ATT policies take effect. To help improve iOS monetization rates, Google will encourage developers to upgrade to version 7.64 of the Google Mobile Ads SDK for new features, such as SKAdNetwork support. 

Google and the industry are working to give Apple feedback on how to further improve SKAdNetwork, so advertisers can increase measurement accurate rates for campaign on iOS 14.

As Apple’s ATT policies go into effect, advertisers running display, video and other campaigns promoting web-based conversion goals may see performance fluctuations. During this time, Google plans to expand modeled conversions to more iOS 14 traffic.

Google will no longer use information such as IDFA, which falls under ATT, for the handful of its iOS apps that use it for advertising purposes. Google will not show the ATT prompt on those apps, in line with Apple’s guidance.