Google to stop using Apple tool to track iPhone users, avoiding new pop-up warning

Google’s iPhone apps such as Maps and YouTube will stop using a tool from Apple Inc that allows them to personalize ads, avoiding a new Apple warning that informs users their browsing is being tracked.

The announcement in a Wednesday blog post by the Alphabet Inc unit comes shortly before Apple is expected to start enforcing new tracking transparency rules.

Apple for years has supplied apps with a unique identifier, known as IDFA, to help them link the same user across multiple programs. The code can be essential in determining to whom to show an ad and tracking whether it prompted them to make a purchase.

But Apple has said “early” this year it will require that apps show users a one-time pop-up message to gain their consent to access their IDFA.