{"id":80926,"date":"2023-10-18T12:26:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=80926"},"modified":"2024-11-06T10:31:12","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T15:31:12","slug":"new-apple-ios-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/new-apple-ios-17","title":{"rendered":"Everything Marketers Need to Know About the New Apple iOS 17"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t
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On September 18, 2023, Apple launched its seventeenth release of Apple\u2019s iOS operating system for the iPhone\u2014iOS 17. And with it, one <\/span>feature<\/span><\/i> that had marketers scrambling: <\/span>Apple\u2019s Link Tracking Protection (LTP)<\/span><\/a>, which sounded like another version of <\/span>Apple\u2019s Mail Privacy Protection<\/span><\/a>, but this time impacting click tracking. The horror!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this blog post, we\u2019ll dive into Apple\u2019s LTP (spoiler alert: you do not need to panic) plus, share how iOS 17 changes how your emails will render\u2014and what steps to take next.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive in:<\/span><\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s iOS 17 in a nutshell: key features and changes<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dear marketers, let\u2019s pause a moment and look at the key changes coming to us in iOS 17 before we lose our hats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Privacy enhancements\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

First and perhaps foremost is the privacy enhancements, better known as <\/span>Apple\u2019s Link Tracking Protection<\/b>, or LTP for short. In a world where many websites are used to being able to add extra information to their URLs in order to track users across other websites\u2014this may be a little uncomfortable for some. With Apple\u2019s Link tracking protection, this information will be removed from links users share in Messages, Safari Private Browsing, and Mail on iOS 17.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of what a tracked link might look like:<\/span><\/p>\n

<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.example.com?customer_id=abc&mkt_tok=abc\">Link<\/a><\/span><\/code><\/p>\n

And what happens to that link when the URL is clicked on in Mail and opened in Safari:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.example.com?customer_id=abc<\/span><\/code><\/p>\n

Cue the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why would they do this, you ask?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mainly impacts ad platforms<\/span><\/h3>\n

Well, right now it looks like the primary target is ad platforms like Google and Facebook ads. If you\u2019ve ever clicked down an ad rabbit hole for the latest in cute winter hats for your cat and ended up with a really long URL even long after you\u2019ve left Facebook\u2026 Link tracking is why. Apple\u2019s goal appears to be to protect users from this phenomenon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Essentially, it\u2019s a privacy measure. Which has pros and cons for everyone, especially marketing professionals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the expected adoption rate for iOS 17?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Right now, the expectation is for iOS 17 market share to hit ~90% by the end of March 2024. This information is <\/span>based on past iOS launches<\/span><\/a>\u2014you Apple users are a savvy bunch. But this will vary, depending on your audience. For a sneak peek at what the adoption rate will look like for your audience, take a look at how many subscribers are using iOS already! This will let you know who in your audience is using Apple products, giving you a good idea of what percentage of your audience will hop on board the iOS 17 train.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t know how to see who\u2019s using which client? We recommend the rich, reliable data available with <\/span>Litmus Email Analytics<\/span><\/a>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How iOS 17 changes impact marketers<\/span><\/h2>\n

Here are some ways iOS 17 may change your workflow, and what you can do about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Click tracking<\/span><\/h3>\n

So the good news is that Apple\u2019s Link Tracking Protection is not as severe as <\/span>Apple\u2019s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP)<\/span><\/a> changes. The sky is not falling!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We conducted our own research to identify exactly which parameters are impacted by LTP, and here\u2019s what we found:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Parameter<\/th>\nDescription<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
__hsfp<\/span><\/td>\nHubSpot tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
__hssc<\/span><\/td>\nHubSpot tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
__hstc<\/span><\/td>\nHubSpot tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
__s<\/span><\/td>\nDrip.com email address tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
_hsenc<\/span><\/td>\nHubSpot tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
_openstat<\/span><\/td>\nYandex tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dclid<\/span><\/td>\nDoubleClick Click ID (Google)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
fbclid<\/span><\/td>\nFacebook click identifier<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gclid<\/span><\/td>\nGoogle click identifier<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
hsCtaTracking<\/span><\/td>\nHubSpot tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
igshid<\/span><\/td>\nInstagram tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mc_eid<\/span><\/td>\nMailchimp Email ID (email recipient\u2019s address)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mkt_tok<\/span><\/td>\nAdobe Marketo tracking parameter<\/span><\/p>\n

(<\/span>Marketo are rolling out some updates to combat this.<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

ml_subscriber<\/span><\/td>\nMailerLite email tracking<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ml_subscriber_hash<\/span><\/td>\nMailerLite email tracking<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
msclkid<\/span><\/td>\nMicrosoft Click ID<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
oly_anon_id<\/span><\/td>\nOmeda marketing \u2018anonymous\u2019 customer id<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
oly_enc_id<\/span><\/td>\nOmeda marketing \u2018known\u2019 customer id<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
_openstat<\/span><\/td>\nOpenStat tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
rb_clickid<\/span><\/td>\nUnknown high-entropy tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
s_cid<\/span><\/td>\nAdobe Site Catalyst tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
twclid<\/span><\/td>\nTwitter Click Id<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
vero_conv<\/span><\/td>\nVero tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
vero_id<\/span><\/td>\nVero tracking parameter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wickedid<\/span><\/td>\nWicked Reports e-commerce tracking<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
yclid<\/span><\/td>\nYandex Click ID<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Peter Jaku\u0161 has <\/span>written an incredible post<\/span><\/a> that goes into all the details\u2014and then some\u2014about what exactly happens with URL parameters, if you want to get into the nitty-gritty details give this post a read.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Also, if you want to find out how Safari could be impacting your email links, here\u2019s a nifty tool that can test whether Safari is removing tracking parameters<\/a> from your links!)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s end this part on a positive note: in our own testing, we\u2019ve learned that <\/span>Litmus Personalize<\/span><\/a> link tracking is <\/span>not impacted<\/b> by Apple\u2019s Link Tracking Protection \ud83c\udf89. So that\u2019s just <\/span>one more reason<\/span><\/i> to surprise & delight your audience with a sprinkle of personalization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

iOS 17\u2019s impact on email rendering<\/span><\/h3>\n

How will iOS 17 change how your emails render?<\/span> Short answer: <\/b>They most likely won’t, but testing is still a must!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Long answer: <\/b>We thoroughly tested our own core email templates, and compared the results to iOS 16. We did not observe any differences in how iOS 17 renders email vs. iOS 16.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As well as your average email code, we also took a look at how these advanced techniques render in iOS 17. All of these rendered exactly as they did in iOS 16:<\/span><\/p>\n