A third class action complaint against Apple alleges that the firm still gathers user data even when App Tracking Transparency is disabled.

Despite Apple's assurances that the data cannot be used to identify a user, Gizmodo reports that it is believed that the data is transmitted with a permanent ID number connected to iCloud accounts. Researchers' tests showed that disabling the setting had no impact on the analytics information given by other Apple apps, such as the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, and others. 

Apple is being sued in New York by Paul Whalen, who is seeking damages of $5 million. The most serious difficulties with Apple, according to the lawsuit, are the "Share Analytics" and "Allow Apps to Request to Track" settings.

"Those data breaches happened in large part because someone made a mistake that shouldn't have occurred," Whalen said. "In this case, with Apple, there doesn't appear to be a mistake. Apple knowingly promised one thing and did exactly the opposite. That is what makes this case feel so very different."

Apple's App Tracking Transparency

Apple is accused of gathering user data even when App Tracking Transparency was disabled, according to the class-action lawsuit. Evidently, studies had been conducted that showed turning off App Tracking Transparency had no impact on the analytics information from Apple apps such as the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, and others. 

With the release of iOS 14.5, Phone Arena reports that app tracking transparency was first implemented in April 2021. In essence, it enables a user to ask an app to stop tracking their online and mobile behavior. Apps used to do that, so they could show you targeted adverts based on the items you were searching for or interested in.

Although Apple claims the data cannot be used to identify a user personally, it is claimed that the acquired data is delivered with a permanent ID number connected to iCloud accounts. The amount of data gathered was comparable to that used by businesses like Meta to get around App Tracking Transparency.

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Long-running Privacy Concern Over Apple

Apple has already come under fire for its inconsistent approach to privacy. According to Yahoo, the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), which Apple by default baked into the iPhone, was the subject of a number of complaints to EU data protection watchdogs back in 2020. They claimed that the IDFA's inclusion was a similar violation of the prior consent to tracking principle.

Apple has continued to dispute these lines of arguments -- claiming it complies with local privacy laws and offers a higher level of privacy and data protection for iOS users than rival platforms.

According to Politico, the CNIL determined that the American tech giant failed to obtain the consent of French iPhone users with the iOS 14.6 version before depositing and writing identifiers used for advertising purposes on their terminals.

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