Google’s not-so-similar approach
Like Apple’s IDFA, Google’s Advertising ID (GAID) is used for user-level tracking across Android. Contrary though to Apple’s opt-in approach, Google’s new plan will remove the use of GAID completely in favor of a privacy-protecting alternative through Google’s Privacy Sandbox Initiative. The idea is to develop a new advertising approach that does not rely on device-level identifiers and limits covert tracking from advertisers completely.
What is important to understand is that these changes will not eliminate advertising all together. In fact, Google’s new policy will arguably be more friendly to developers and marketers given their ad business is the backbone (~80%) of the $256 billion-dollar machine.
While the exact changes remain unclear, Google highlighted a few Privacy Sandbox proposals that they are bringing to Android. This includes Topics, a tool that will determine several topics of interest based on a user’s history. This feature, also being rolled out for Chrome, will enable ad generation spanning topics of interest and deliver personalized ads without the need for data collection.
This change, along with other proposals, will be part of a multi-year rollout after rigorous beta testing, another stark difference from Apple’s arguably aggressive IDFA change.