This week, we launched iOS SDK 4.10.3. If you’re a mobile app developer using Start.io’s advertising solutions inside your iOS apps, we recommend installing the latest SDK now.
iOS SDK 4.10.3 contains important updates that will keep your iOS apps in compliance with Apple’s current privacy guidelines.
Apple has taken decisive steps in recent years to give consumers more transparency and control over the data they share with the mobile apps they use. The company rolled out App Tracking Transparency in 2021, followed by Privacy Nutrition Labels in 2022.
When Privacy Nutrition Labels first launched, Apple asked app developers to create an inventory of every time their app gathered consumer data, and whether that data was tied to people’s identities. Developers quickly ran into a challenge—most apps use third-party SDKs, and it’s not always clear how and when a third-party SDK gathers consumer data while running inside an app.
This year, Apple made an important update to help developers solve this challenge, by rolling out Privacy Manifests for third-party SDKs.
The developers of third-party SDKs must now submit a Privacy Manifest that describes the data types that their SDK collects, how each data type is used, whether that data is linked to individual users, and whether that data is used for tracking, as defined by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework.
Apple collects these manifests, and builds a privacy report for each mobile app, to help developers fill out their Privacy Nutrition Labels more accurately.
This requirement took effect on May 1, 2024.
Start.io gathers data to help improve our ability to deliver high-performing ads to hundreds of thousands of mobile apps each day. We’ve documented the types of data we collect, and how we use it, in our latest Privacy Manifest.
We urge developers to upgrade to the latest version of our iOS SDK to remain in compliance with Apple’s privacy guidelines. Apple says developers who use third-party SDKs without Privacy Manifests will not be able to update their existing apps in the App Store until they return to compliance.
Read more on Apple’s app developer portal.
