The new iOS 15 is now out, and it is now disrupting the status quo in marketing. Discover the features that might impact your business the most.

Since its beginnings, Apple has prided itself as a company whose central value is user privacy.

This is why the industry leader has decided to roll out new updates for their operative systems in their latest stride towards better privacy protection. These updates will include advanced audio and video features, as well as significant changes when it comes to protecting user information.

From security to data tracking, the recently released software has been disrupting the way marketing campaigns target Apple users. In fact, many already consider iOS 15 a game-changer in some crucial marketing aspects.

The full impact of the new iOS 15 is now becoming apparent. However, there’s more than enough known facts about it to warrant more preparation.

In this article, we’ll explore the crucial features of iOS 15 as they relate to marketing and explain how the latest update might impact the market.

What’s in the iOS 15 Update?

According to the preview on Apple’s website, the latest iPhone operating system boasts plenty of novel features. From polished audio and visuals, through new functionality and communication options, to, of course, updated privacy protection, iOS 15 represents another step forward in iPhone software.

FaceTime, for example, has now expanded its sharing functionality, enabling users to watch videos, listen to music, or share their screen with others during calls. Spatial audio is another handy feature that will create the impression of directional voices based on the person’s on-screen position. Additional functionality for FaceTime includes grid view for group calls, portrait mode, microphone voice isolation, and FaceTime web links.

Messaging also received a slight rehash in terms of specialised sections for different content types, such as the Shared with You section and photo collections.

iOS 15 also introduced different Focus settings that adjust notifications based on the user’s current activity. And speaking of notifications, those are also redesigned and streamlined.

Maps are improved with detailed 3D renditions of particular landmarks and features designated for drivers. Meanwhile, people going by foot or using public transit will also have a better experience with navigation.

The Safari browser now features a refreshed user interface, extensions support, and voice search, which is of interest to marketers like you. With voice search on the rise in recent years, Apple providing more extensive support to this method of online searching might speed up the upcoming changes in search engines.

Other improvements include those in Wallet, live photo text, photo searching with Visual Look Up, the Health app, and the Spotlight search feature.

However, the crucial update that currently impacts the market the most has to do with privacy.

In the following section, we’ll explore the privacy updates for iOS 15 and how they might relate to your future marketing campaigns.

What Are iOS Privacy Updates (And What Do They Mean)?

With iOS 15, users now have a clear insight into data usage by each app. Permissions for all apps will be visible, along with the information about their communication with third parties.

The App Privacy Report will outline all app activities and users will be able to allow the system to record their activity. These records will also be summarised on a weekly level. Reports won’t be available immediately with the iOS 15 launch but should be added relatively shortly afterwards.

Apple’s iCloud service is now updated to iCloud+, which now has increased privacy protection with every higher plan tier. With iCloud Private Relay, all outgoing traffic from the user’s iPhone will be encrypted. This feature is now disrupting third-party data collection since other companies will lose access to user location, IP address, and browsing activity.

In other words, gathering personal information for targeted marketing will become much more of a challenge.

The system is now set up so that neither Apple nor the server has complete information about the user’s online behaviour. Instead, one will have access to info about the IP address and the other to the currently visited website. While this privacy protection method doesn’t cover all activity on the device, it works seamlessly with Safari-based browsing.

Finally, users now have the option to hide their email address by creating a random address. All messages coming to that email address will be forwarded to the actual address to allow full control of incoming mail. This feature has now been rolled out at the same time as App Privacy Report.

How to Adapt for iOS 15

The new iOS release currently impacts several aspects of online marketing, particularly email campaigns. A marketer’s ability to track email opens, engagement over time, subscriber’s activity, and deliverability alteration will be hindered.

Currently, there are no easy solutions to these limitations. However, you can start analysing the impact of the new privacy protection options.

For example, you could start measuring email campaign performance based on vital metrics now. Creating benchmarks for comparison now that the iOS 15 is out would also be a sound move. Comparing performance by headers, subject lines, weekday, time, and ‘from’ lines will also provide valuable data on possible adjustments.

Given how the new iOS will prevent marketers from gathering information on deliverability, inactive addresses will be harder to track. Yet, you’ll still be able to purge hard bounces, which should be done diligently.

Preparing You for What’s to Come

The iOS 15 undoubtedly changed the face of online marketing. Either workarounds have become available or the marketing landscape has shifted and accommodated the changes.

In any event, some definitive solutions will surface in time. And now that the iOS15 is out, it’s best for you to know what else is coming up so that you can prepare for the next big impact.

GMS can help you keep your marketing efforts up-to-date and meet the new challenges as they appear. If you want to get a head start and position your marketing in the best way possible, contact us and schedule your free consult today!