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Identity Trackers within Audiobus App
Just a heads-up for current and prospective Audiobus app users who haven't updated recently...
The latest version introduces privacy-invasive trackers. Not only that, IAA functionality is now totally borked, with an irritating welcome screen to bitter the pill.
(Note: if you have updated already, but have bought AB2 in the past, AB2 does still work on iOS18).
AB/IAA is all but fading away, but some of us users (and devs) still rely on it heavily, as AUv3 does not yet -- and perhaps never will -- meet the same needs AB/IAA has for many years. I have also not found another AUv3 host with as much "get up and go" energy as AB3.
Hoping Audiobus reverses whatever weird direction they seem to be heading in.
Comments
That is very disappointing. I never checked before but I assumed they were not in previous version @Michael ?
For reference (previously):
Hmmm, seems like Identifier data isn't linked to you. Dont know exactly what that means but I read it as anonymous data so it doesn't really seem privacy-invasive.
The first one says data used to track you.
It's privacy-invasive when "anonymized" data is de-anonymized at a future date, which in most cases it absolutely can be. When a company mentions anonymized data, it almost always is PR-speak for the yuckier-sounding plausibly deniably harvested private data.
Shoot. I guess I'm done with Audiobus then. RIP.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Now we need to check the other apps they've acquired if/when they get updates. 😐
https://forum.loopypro.com/discussion/comment/1364232/#Comment_1364232
It’s been sold to a new developer recently.
Yes, and so have the other apps in the post I linked above.
Maybe @Michael could ask him to get in touch with the community.
The other apps have not yet been updated. They don’t have tracking so far.
It seems to say "may", as in it is a possibility, then the second one says it is anonymous. But hey yah, maybe evil evil is afoot.
The app did not have tracking.
FWIW, leaving a one-star review is probably not the best way to get a developer’s attention. Quite a few developers that you probably like have mentioned that leaving one-star reviews is a great way to not be heard.
If you are unable to find contact info for the developer, you might want to drop Michael a note about your concern and ask if he can help you get in touch with them.
Is this because the developers don't read the reviews? Or just won't respond to negative feedback?
Keep in mind that most of these disclosures are voluntary.
The truly shady apps won’t disclose any of this information. The fact that the developer is stating this clearly on the App Store is a sign you’re likely dealing with a legitimate developer who is doing their best to follow all the rules.
So, before you have a knee-jerk reaction and start downvoting the app, it’s best to wait for a response from the developer. My guess is that the dev is probably running some standard Facebook ads and using some sort of identifiers to measure their performance.
It is because developers—like anyone else—would generally like a chance to have direct communication with someone to have a chance to resolve the issue. A bad review can have an ongoing bad effect — and is often based on a misunderstanding or something that a developer would work towards resolving.
Leaving a one-star review without first trying to resolve the issue comes across as hostile. And people on the whole are less responsive to public hostile feedback than when approached with a good faith attempt to resolve an issue.
Appreciate you.
Any sane developer should just completely remove AudioBus support asap...
...the 3.5 version is apparently a total s*ht show and doesn't work with Cubasis and some other hosts...
I'll personally avoid it like the plague...
In the case of the App Store, it's not voluntary. If the tracking code is there then they have to disclose it. The App Review process assures that.
There's no other purpose for adding tracking code "...that may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies," other than to sell the data for marketing purposes.
Many people actually like being tracked for better targeted advertising. I don't like it. If I know it's happening then I avoid it.
[edit] I reread your comment and it does make sense about the Facebook ads tracking possibility. That would be a benign use that would actually appear potentially worse with the disclosure notice.
(There's also an argument to be made that if that does result in some amount of income from the app, which can support ongoing development, maybe that's a good thing.)
Hey guys - I’ve given Francesco a heads up, hopefully he’ll jump in here. They’ll have 3.5.1 out shortly, I’m sure; just a tricky transition to the latest iOS SDK, but they’re on it.
I can’t speak for them, but if I were to guess, the tracking stuff is almost certainly describing an analytics thing to help them get their bearings, figure out the size of their new user base. I’m not sure we need to immediately assume evil intent 😅
btw, I did find an email address for questions about the app's privacy policy. Hopefully that's not just a carry-over from the website as it used to be, and is monitored.
https://magic-cake-e95.notion.site/Audiobus-Privacy-Policy-14acf6557a08808ca1adc1d8a0e67223
Scroll to the bottom for the email address.
Good point
Oftentimes people make honest mistakes with no ill-intention.
Don’t forget they’re new to all this. Give ‘em time to get oriented.
True, it happened recently with those Wotja thread.
Also, regarding tracking: Someone reached out with a couple of suggestions that might help ease some of the concerns, so I thought I’d share them here.
First, Apple has a feature called App Privacy Report that you can turn on in Settings > Privacy & Security. If you scroll to the bottom of that page, you’ll see it. Once it’s enabled, it keeps a log of any times an app connects to a website, and it’ll even flag any cross-tracking activity. It’s a great way to see exactly what’s going on under the hood.
Another tip: in Settings > Cellular, you can scroll down to find Audiobus (or any app, really) and toggle off its access to cellular data. That can be a quick way to limit what it can do online.
Thank you Michael 👍🏼
Oooh. That's gonna be fun! Thanks for that tip. 😎
Now I'm curious if my PiHole server is blocking any app queries in addition to web queries.
Removed by me because I’m an actual idiot who should stick to being creative and not sharing half thought out ideas 😟
Cheers, Michael for sharing this, you class act you. 🙏🏽
Just to be clear, and not because I have a bug up my butt about this issue,
There is usage tracking which is completely unrelated to anything except just that usage statistics for the developer. Then there is cross tracking, which can track across apps and websites. Cross tracking can be used to identify you in an anonymous fashion (i.e. a web site or other app may know that the person using your device owns the app, but not who you are). Cross tracking can be used to serve up content targeted to you because you own this app. It can be monetized, though I'm not saying that's the case here.
Audiobus now has both types of tracking. The cross tracking may not even be used, but there is nothing to stop it being used.
There is a sophisticated network of "fingerprint" tracking that has far more specific profiling than most people realize is being accumulated. Yes, it's anonymous. But in another way there's no guarantee that this profiling remains completely anonymous because if your profile is recognized by a web site that does know who you are, then that information can conceivably be linked up and can conceivably leak.
Before anyone steps in and says I'm being paranoid ... I know what I'm talking about. I'm not going to get into how and I don't care if you believe me or not. I also don't care about this tracking personally because I have nothing to hide and practice good hygiene with my personal data. Part of that hygiene is avoiding such tracking where I know it exists - as long as I'm willing to do without the resource that has it.
Anyhow - I'm not trying to make a big deal out of this. It isn't a big deal. But, when I can offer perspective that helps clarify a situation, I try to, so that others can make informed choices.
(btw, the Audiobus tracking in question is likely no deeper than that which we all enable every time we consent to the use of cookies on web sites.)