Google’s (GOOGL) plan to limit data tracking on its Chrome browser has now been extended to cover apps on its Android-based smartphones.
Google’s so-called “Privacy Sandbox” project aims to curb the amount of user data that advertisers can gather. Rival Apple (AAPL) now forces app developers to ask permission from users before tracking them online.
The news will be a blow to firms such as Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (FB), which rely on putting their code on apps to track consumer behaviour. Meta said earlier this month that Apple’s changes would cost it $10 billion U.S. in lost revenue this year.
Google’s Android operating system is used by about 85% of smartphone owners worldwide.
Third-party cookies, which use people’s browsing history to target adverts, will be phased out on Google’s Chrome browser by 2023, the company said.
In a blog, Google said it was now extending its Privacy Sandbox to Android apps, and working on solutions that will limit sharing users’ data and “operate without cross app identifiers, including advertising ID.”
These identifiers are tied to smartphones and are used by apps to collect information. Google said that it will keep them in place for at least two years, while it works with the industry on a new system.
Google’s attempts to create alternatives to third party cookies on its Chrome browser have not gone entirely smoothly. Its first proposal, a system called “Federated Learning of Cohorts,” was disliked by privacy campaigners and advertisers alike.
Its successor, “Topics,” was announced recently and aims instead to group users in topic clusters selected out of about 350 categories such as fitness or travel. When someone visits a website, Topics will show the site and its advertising partners three of their interests from the previous three weeks.
The Competitions Market Authority has been scrutinising Google’s transition to more privacy-focused systems and said of its plans to extend them to Android apps: “We will continue to monitor this closely and engage with Google on the nature and detail of its proposals.”
