I wonder if this is going to forcibly break all apps on all prior iOS releases.
I’m already running afoul of this. The Subway app (for a major sandwich chain) uses this framework, and as such, it crashes on launch when run in my iPhone 6 (running iOS 12). The crash report shows that it is failing because the AppTrackingTransparency framework can’t be loaded (because it doesn’t exist in iOS 12).
A StackOverflow post indicates that you can solve this problem by making the framework optional, but I wonder if apps that do will pass the App Store review process.
Apple needs to either release an iOS 12 version of this framework or tag these apps as incompatible with iOS prior to 14. To release an app that can’t even load is disgusting.
As a consumer, not a developer, this is AOK with me. Subway should have fixed its app; they’ve had enough time to do so. Maybe they are among the many developers who are trying to find a way around the requirements?
You misunderstand. Subway is following Apple’s requirement by using the framework that Apple is mandating. But that mandatory framework only exists on iOS 14.
This rule effectively means there can be no advertising of any kind on older phones because ad networks depend on tracking and tracking can no longer be done without this framework, which will never exist on older phones.
I would agree with Apple if they said all apps on iOS 14 must use the framework, but apps running on older versions of iOS can still run without it (by making it an optional-load instead of mandatory). But they haven’t said this.
Of course, the real goal here may be to force everybody to throw away their old phones, under penalty of breaking all third-party apps. In which case, mission accomplished.