Apple Reportedly Introducing UDID App Tracking Replacement Soon

With WWDC just days away, the rumors revolving around Apple are at a fever pitch. From new Retina Display-equipped hardware to details about iOS 6, Apple has the technology world's eye yet again. And given that it really is a developer conference at heart, it shouldn't come as any surprise to hear rumors about new dev-related announcements to come. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is planning to let loose a "new way for mobile app developers to track who uses their software." Currently, the UDID model effectively does this already, but that began to be phased out last year. Reportedly, the new tool would attempt to "balance developers' appetite for targeting data with consumers' unease over how it is used."

Privacy is obviously a concern from the user end, but tracking usage is extremely important on the development end. It's very useful for devs to keep track of who is using their apps and how it's being used. Supposedly, the tool could come as early as a few weeks, and it will hopefully provide more useful data without infringing on privacy.


It's becoming a huge deal because of Apple's silence on the issue; since saying that UDID wasn't the future, it has yet to say what exactly is the future. Hopefully, it'll become even more clear starting on Monday.