UDID

Apple sets deadline for retiring old device ID system

It's official. Apple will longer accept new apps or app updates that access UDIDs. The company has set a May 1 deadline for this new policy.

"Starting May 1, the App Store will no longer accept new apps or app updates that access UDIDs," Apple wrote on its developer Web site today. "Please update your apps and servers to associate users with the Vendor or Advertising identifiers introduced in iOS 6."

UDIDs are the unique string of numbers that individually identifies each iOS device. Typically, they have been used by developers as a way to … Read more

Ad tracking 'blocker' comes to iOS 6

Apple has built into iOS 6 a new toggle that will let you prevent advertisers from hitting you with targeted ads, but slow implementation of its new Advertising Identifier number means you could still see targeted ads on your iPhone for the foreseeable future.

First reported by 9to5Mac, the Limit Ad Tracking option is designed to prevent advertisers from tracking your behavior on the phone. It's a lot like a phone-based version of Do Not Track, except one that advertisers will be forced to obey since iOS is a proprietary system.

The toggle is available in iOS 6 general … Read more

What to expect for the iPhone 5

Tuesday's tech news roundup has a case of iPhone anticipation jitters:

Can you stand the wait? It's almost time for a new iPhone. Apple will dish all the details Wednesday, but here's what we're expecting: larger screen, smaller dock connector, and 4G LTE speeds. It's questionable if Apple will even mention the rumored 7-inch iPad Mini. That announcement may be saved for next month to give iPhone all the glory.

Live blog: CNET's live coverage of Apple's event begins Wednesday

When iOS 6 is released, Apple will not include the standard YouTube app. … Read more

UDID leak source ID'd: BlueToad mobile firm says it was hacked

A small mobile publishing company said today that it was the source of the large number of unique Apple device IDs leaked to the Internet last week.

BlueToad said in a statement that it was the "victim of a criminal cyber attack, which resulted in the theft of Apple UDIDs from our systems." A UDID is a unique device identifier, which Apple has strongly encouraged developers to move away from for privacy reasons.

The disclosure from BlueToad, which is based in Orlando, Fla., adds more details to the timeline of how the UDIDs were obtained and where they … Read more

Why the Apple, FBI and AntiSec UDID debacle won't go away

Hacktivist collective AntiSec kicked off the week by publishing one million anonymized Apple UDIDs (Unique Device Identifiers) including device types and associated usernames, saying it was part of a 12 million large database that they'd snagged off an FBI agent's computer.

Online, techies scrambled to see if their devices were in the database dump, and look for clues as to where the alleged larger collection might have come from.

The FBI waited until the end of the day to issue an uncharacteristic, slightly sophomoric Tweet calling AntiSec's allegation TOTALLY FALSE and an oddly worded … Read more

Apple says it did not give FBI or 'any organization' device IDs

Apple says it doesn't know anything about a massive list of unique identifiers released on the Web earlier this week.

In a statement this morning, Apple said it did not furnish a list of Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) to the FBI or anyone else, and that the feature was soon to be removed.

"The FBI has not requested this information from Apple, nor have we provided it to the FBI or any organization," Apple said in a statement provided to AllThingsD. "Additionally, with iOS 6 we introduced a new set of APIs meant to replace the … Read more

AntiSec claims to have snatched 12M Apple device IDs from FBI

An online hacker group associated with Anonymous claims to have posted 1 million Apple Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) by breaching FBI security.

A UDID is the unique string of numbers that identifies each iOS device, formerly used by developers to track their app installations across Apple's user base.

In all, AntiSec claims to have obtained more than 12 million UDIDs, including user names, addresses, and notification tokens from a laptop used by an FBI agent. In a missive posted to Pastebin, the hacking group explains how it obtained the data from an FBI agent's laptop:

During the second … Read more

Study: Apple's UDID restrictions cost developers 24% revenue

Privacy concerns have been at the top of many tech industry reports lately. Between Apple's Flashback Trojan issues, Google's faux pas with Safari privacy settings, and a myriad of other privacy-related stories, consumers, lawmakers, and the media have been pressing for greater privacy restrictions.

Partly in response to a Congressional inquiry, Apple has begun restricting access to consumers' UDID numbers, a unique identifier that individually accounts for all iOS devices Apple sells.

Ad servers, like MoPub, have been using UDIDs to serve particular ads to targeting demographics for years. Now that Apple has begun rejecting apps that continue … Read more

Apple bolstering privacy by ending developer access to UDIDs

The unique string of numbers that individually identifies each iOS device has typically been used by developers as a way to track their app installations across Apple's user base.

About six months ago, Apple warned developers that their ability to access and use UDIDs would be severely limited and they should begin the process of getting away from UDID usage. Most developers would expect about a year to comply with a major change such as this, but Apple seems to be feeling a bit antsy right now.

Many developers are reporting that apps that continue to use UDIDs are … Read more