It’s been almost a month since iOS10 was released, with its more stringent privacy settings – where users can opt out of the ID for Advertisers (IDFA). When the Limit Ad Tracking setting is enabled, the IDFA is blank.

If people were more interested in reducing the number of retargeted ads, and if they were aware of the effects of the Limit Ad Tracking settings, we would expect a steadily rising trend throughout the last month as adoption of iOS 10 rises and people become aware of the changes. So far, there’s no evidence of an upward trend – the global rates are stagnant, at around 18 %.

So what’s happened, globally?

After the jump, you’ll find all of the rates, by country.

In North America, US LAT rates rise to 20 %

The US is one of the few places where the Limit Ad Tracking rates have consistently risen throughout the month. Around the launch of iOS 10, different measurements implied that circa 16 - 18 % of iOS users in the United States had opted out of ad tracking. As of October 4th, the day this dataset was retrieved, that number had steadily risen to 20 %.

Country

% of iOS users who have opted out

Bahamas

18.77%

Barbados

22.98%

Belize

21.87%

Bermuda

30.28%

Canada

14.44%

Costa Rica

11.45%

Dominican Republic

10.91%

El Salvador

10.17%

Guadeloupe

25.62%

Guatemala

10.23%

Haiti

28.35%

Honduras

11.79%

Jamaica

13.16%

Martinique

26.42%

Mexico

7.88%

Nicaragua

13.87%

Panama

10.79%

Puerto Rico

13.73%

Trinidad and Tobago

13.10%

United States of America

20.46%

Germans and Scandinavians top the list among Europeans

In Europe, the rates are frequently above the global average, especially in Eastern Europe.

The countries leading the list are typically in Northern Europe, such as Germany (19 %) or the Netherlands (22 %). Writing this out of Berlin, this is not entirely surprising. The Germans have high standards for privacy protection (Datenschutz), and an above-average awareness of the types of data that is being collected - in addition to some of the world’s most stringent privacy protection laws. As adjust’s platform is engineered and hosted in Germany, we’re keenly familiar with the type of protections these laws require.

Particularly low are the rates in Turkey.

Country

% of iOS users who have opted out

Albania

14.22%

Austria

17.78%

Belarus

12.70%

Belgium

16.33%

Bosnia and Herzegovina

12.68%

Bulgaria

10.89%

Croatia

13.30%

Cyprus

15.19%

Czech Republic

18.75%

Denmark

16.89%

Estonia

15.77%

Finland

17.33%

France

12.02%

Germany

19.33%

Greece

12.07%

Hungary

10.94%

Iceland

14.24%

Ireland

12.38%

Italy

13.69%

Latvia

14.91%

Lithuania

11.89%

Luxembourg

18.51%

Macedonia

11.34%

Malta

18.83%

Moldova

14.00%

Montenegro

16.93%

Netherlands

21.99%

Norway

12.37%

Poland

17.27%

Portugal

12.56%

Romania

9.78%

Russia

13.95%

Serbia

11.45%

Slovakia

16.40%

Slovenia

15.07%

Spain

12.91%

Sweden

12.55%

Switzerland

16.44%

Turkey

8.49%

Ukraine

12.38%

United Kingdom

16.52%

The Middle East, Israel and the Arab subcontinent

Country

% of iOS users who have opted out

Bahrain

10.87%

Iran

11.95%

Israel

14.07%

Jordan

11.14%

Kuwait

13.51%

Lebanon

11.62%

Oman

11.58%

Qatar

12.76%

Saudi Arabia

12.25%

UAE

11.57%

Yemen

22.78%

Users in Asia more open to ad tracking?

It’s among Asian countries that we find some of the world’s lowest rates of opt-outs, almost tied with Latin America. The lowest rates across the board are found among users in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Country

% of iOS users who have opted out

Afghanistan

14.74%

Armenia

10.79%

Azerbaijan

10.99%

Bangladesh

13.92%

Bhutan

26.56%

Brunei

16.15%

Cambodia

18.75%

China

11.04%

Georgia

12.47%

Hong Kong

17.32%

India

9.23%

Indonesia

7.16%

Iraq

10.48%

Japan

13.60%

Kazakhstan

11.07%

Kyrgyzstan

15.67%

Laos

14.77%

Macao

17.77%

Malaysia

9.42%

Maldives

13.75%

Mongolia

8.03%

Myanmar

11.48%

Nepal

11.10%

Pakistan

7.49%

Philippines

6.92%

Singapore

15.50%

South Korea

9.64%

Sri Lanka

9.21%

Taiwan

14.21%

Tajikistan

19.73%

Thailand

8.33%

Turkmenistan

25.68%

Uzbekistan

15.44%

Viet Nam

9.19%

South America on the lower end of the scale

Country

% of iOS users who have opted out

Argentina

9.02%

Bolivia

10.60%

Brazil

8.23%

Chile

9.01%

Colombia

9.10%

Ecuador

10.16%

French Guiana

32.14%

Guyana

23.27%

Paraguay

10.21%

Peru

9.43%

Suriname

25.14%

Uruguay

11.21%

Venezuela

8.95%

African countries represent the highest level of iOS Limit Ad Tracking

Country

% of iOS users who have opted out

Algeria

16.02%

Angola

14.77%

Benin

28.95%

Bolivia

20.50%

Botswana

29.41%

Burkina Faso

25.92%

Cameroon

18.62%

Congo

38.18%

Cote d’Ivoire

10.31%

Curacao

25.82%

DRC

19.49%

Egypt

10.22%

Ethiopia

19.71%

Gabon

26.53%

Gambia

22.22%

Ghana

10.33%

Guinea

22.22%

Kenya

13.32%

Libya

12.81%

Madagascar

23.33%

Mali

18.09%

Mauritania

30.09%

Mauritius

16.19%

Morocco

17.84%

Mozambique

19.60%

Namibia

20.94%

Nigeria

8.66%

Reunion

15.88%

Rwanda

36.36%

Senegal

14.38%

Sierra Leone

32.43%

Somalia

23.33%

South Africa

13.34%

Sudan

23.44%

Tanzania

15.13%

Togo

32.43%

Tunisia

15.44%

Zambia

25.50%

Zimbabwe

20.66%

What does this mean for you?

Limit Ad Tracking means that users don’t want to be retargeted and profiled for advertising purposes.

As we can see, it’s not evenly distributed across countries, and it’s additionally not evenly distributed among target audiences. Audiences that are more tech-savvy typically know about these settings to a greater degree, and are also more allergic to advertising in general. Some audiences will also have a high proportion of adblockers, which is complementary to Limit Ad Tracking.

It looks like the rates are higher in countries where more people are concerned about their privacy online - for example in the German-speaking area - but not necessarily in countries where smartphone penetration is higher, like in Sweden.

As a marketer, audiences that are very likely to enable Limit Ad Tracking can still be valuable. But you need to reach them in ways that are additionally aware of their privacy preferences.

Understand the “dark percentage” of Limit Ad Tracking

Just last week, we released Privacy Insights, including a new KPI into the adjust dashboard: the proportion of users that have enabled Limit Ad Tracking.

In our aggregated data, we measure the number of anonymous users in each segment. With this information, you’re able to understand more clearly - for your app - which audiences are more likely to opt out of ad tracking.

Maybe some campaigns or some publishers reach this audience to a higher degree? There’s no point scheduling retargeting campaigns toward a segment where a large proportion of the users have opted out.

If certain high-performing audiences are more likely to opt out of tracking, you can know which types of publishers can reach them - and which don’t.

The metrics are available to everyone using adjust.

Not using adjust yet, but still curious how to find out which of your audiences are most engaged, and which ones are more likely to enable LAT? Get in touch today for a demo.