Since iOS 27, Safari has been blocking ad tech. And in every browser on the iPhone. 🔒
Since 14 September, Apple has been using a non-public blocklist in Safari. The affected advertising and data companies can no longer reach the browser. The catch: on iPhone and iPad, all browsers must use Apple’s WebKit technology. So the block also applies in Chrome and in every other iPhone browser.
Programmatic advertising is hit hardest. The Trade Desk was temporarily unable to serve any ads in Safari. Identity providers such as LiveRamp, Unified ID 2.0, ID5 and Permutive are blocked too. A fix is on the way for The Trade Desk, while the other providers remain blocked. Ads on Google and Meta, by contrast, keep running normally.
📉 The real problem is not delivery. It is measurement. Safari restricts click identifiers, referrers and cookies. As a result, conversions via Safari are under-reported. According to an analysis by Aditude, Safari on iPhone and iPad accounts for around 12 per cent of the ads served. The effect is still small, because only a few devices have been updated. But it grows with every update.
What you should do now:
• Move your conversion tracking to the server. That means Meta CAPI, Google Enhanced Conversions, the LinkedIn Conversions API and Microsoft. All sources agree on this.
• Report on Safari and iOS separately.
• Plan for less reach on Safari in programmatic.
So the ads mostly keep running. Tracking and targeting via Safari become harder. If you move to server-side tracking early, you are best protected.
You can find more details and the sources in our blog post.
Do you already use server-side tracking, or do you still rely on the browser?
#Programmatic #Tracking #ServerSideTracking #OnlineMarketing #iOS27
