Firebase Analytics: is it using IDFA on iOS?

Question

Given the upcoming iOS 14 permission prompt for apps that use the IDFA identifier, I am wondering if Firebase Analytics and Firebase Auth do need to access the IDFA in order to operate.

In such case, are we then required to state that the app is using IDFA when we publish it on the AppStore?

Answer 1

The question have been asked in a git issue on the firebase repo and basically the answer is yes if the AdSupport framework is linked to your app. The conversation is actually very interesting and links to another similar discussion started some years ago.

So at the moment if you use Firebase Analytics and your app links against AdSupport, you should indeed check the "my app uses IDFA" checkbox in the App Store.

Answer 2

Given the upcoming iOS 14 permission prompt for apps that use the IDFA identifier, I am wondering if Firebase Analytics and Firebase Auth do need to access the IDFA in order to operate.

In such case, are we then required to state that the app is using IDFA when we publish it on the AppStore?

Answer 3

By default, no*.

You can choose to use IDFA by calling the ATT (App Tracking Transparency) framework. *If you don't call ATT, the IDFA returned by AdSupport will be 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 .

However, starting in 2021, you can include the AdSupport framework and Analytics won't collect the IDFA unless you present the AppTrackingTransparency dialogue. source

Answer 4

here is the quote from Firebase Documentation about Firebase Analytics and IDFA for iOS 14 or later

Firebase SDKs do not access IDFA, though some have integrations with Google Analytics that may involve IDFA access.

so by default Firebase Analytics will not require IDFA. IDFA is required if you need to get more accurate data related to ads and marketing (attribution data & conversion tracking) from your linked Google (Firebase) Analytics.

Analytics event logging, event reporting, and conversion measurement are unaffected, but attribution is impacted if IDFA is not accessible

more documentation you can read related to Apple's iOS 14 policy updates

1. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10285841

2. https://firebase.google.com/docs/ios/app-store-data-collection