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iOS 14.5 Recovery · architecture

What Apple actually changed, and where the data goes now — iOS 14.5 Recovery

Two separate Apple changes get collapsed into one conversation. App Tracking Transparency governs the app. Intelligent Tracking Prevention governs Safari. They break different things and the fixes are different.

1. 1

   ATT removes the cross-app identifier

   Without permission, the IDFA is unavailable, so Meta cannot connect an in-app ad view to a later purchase the way it once did. Aggregated Event Measurement is Meta's replacement, and it reports fewer events with delay and less granularity.

2. 2

   ITP caps JavaScript-set cookies at seven days

   In Safari, a cookie written by a script expires within a week — often within a day. Any customer with a consideration period longer than that becomes a new visitor by the time they buy.

3. 3

   A server-set cookie is not subject to that cap

   A cookie written by your own server in an HTTP response, on your own domain, persists normally. This is the specific mechanism that recovers most of what looks lost.

4. 4

   The order becomes the event source, not the browser

   The purchase exists in your backend regardless of what Safari did. Sending it from the server means the conversion arrives whether or not the browser session survived.

5. 5

   Aggregated Event Measurement priorities are set deliberately

   Meta only reports one event per user under ATT, chosen by your configured priority order. Most accounts have never set it, which means the highest-value event is not necessarily the one being reported.