The mobile landscape was turned upside down when Apple announced its new App Tracking Transparency policy to block tracking of users. In response, Google now allows limiting ad personalization on modern Android versions. But deep down we know it will never be enough, and it's the people at DuckDuckGo who promise something even more powerful than Cupertino's transparency. I'm referring to their new module App Tracking Protection, which just entered public beta, and anyone interested can try it right now.
Do you have any idea how many background connections your mobile device is making? Believe me, neither do we. At the end of the day, that's exactly the problem: the lack of transparency and control. Every 'free' app needs to finance itself somehow. Advertising and its personalization are fundamental resources, but how deep does that tracking go? How can we set limits?
Apple's App Tracking Transparency policy blocks the so-called IDFAs (Identifiers for Advertisers), or rather, makes them opt-out. A study published in April 2021 suggests that 96 percent of users in the United States chose to block tracking, and with that, the question was installed: What about Android? Being honest, we can't expect too many changes from Google, but the DuckDuckGo folks have their App Tracking Protection, now in public beta:
Block App Tracking on Android with DuckDuckGo App Tracking Protection
Unlike what happens on iOS with IDFAs, App Tracking Protection installs a kind of pseudo-VPN (Android reports it as such, but it's not a real VPN) that allows it to compare all tracking requests and information sending against a public list that DuckDuckGo updates periodically on GitHub. This process is done without transmitting information to DuckDuckGo or other external servers.
The blocking process is relatively simple: when a tracker makes a request, the program looks at the destination domain, blocking it if it's found on the blacklist and if the original app has a different owner than the detected domain. DuckDuckGo reports that the average Android user has 35 apps installed. Through a series of tests, they determined that 35 apps can generate between 1,000 and 2,000 tracking attempts per day, contacting more than 70 different companies.
Would you like to know which ones? No problem: by tapping its notification, the tool will take you to a section with the complete report of the number of attempts, the number of apps, the companies involved, and the type of information they were trying to send, such as physical location, time zone, screen size, language, cookies, and more.
DuckDuckGo warns that not all apps respond correctly to tracker blocking, but we can force it to experiment. In my installation, what the module did was ignore Google Play Store, YouTube Vanced, and Kiwi Browser (I reactivated blocking in the last two apps, and I haven't found any issues so far).
To finish, DuckDuckGo App Tracking Protection is not installed as a standalone app, but is part of DuckDuckGo for Android, but don't worry: you are not obligated to use it. In fact, it's enough to go to the App Tracking Protection section within Settings (you'll see the 'beta' icon next to it), and confirm its activation (it needs your permission to create the pseudo-VPN).
Official announcement: Click here
