Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers a keynote during the European Union’s privacy conference at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium October 24, 2018.
Yves Herman | Reuters
The next major update to the iPhone operating system, iOS 14.5, will be released “next week,” Apple said on Tuesday.
The detail was slipped into new product announcements Apple made on Tuesday. iOS 14.5 has a lot of new features, but the one that’s being most closely watched is called ATT, or App Tracking Transparency.
When iPhone users install iOS 14.5, they will be confronted with a pop-up when apps ask to track them using a device ID called the Identifier for Advertisers. Companies that rely on online advertising, especially Facebook, have said that the privacy change will reduce the effectiveness and profitability of targeted ads and potentially roil the online advertising business.
Apple has also said that it is prepared to remove apps that don’t comply with the new policy.
iOS 14.5 also has other new features, including a redesigned vaccine emoji, a feature that helps quickly unlock an iPhone while wearing a mask, and new voices for Siri.
Apple typically releases major software updates on Tuesdays. A new purple-colored iPhone that hits stores on April 30 will have the software pre-installed.
