How does iOS17 Link Tracking Protection affect affiliates

With the recent release of Apple's iOS17 they introduced a new technology - Link Tracking Protection (LTP). This feature strips, user-identifiable information from URLs accessed within Safari Private Browsing, Messages and Mail, whilst leaving the links continuing to function as expected for consumers.

Many websites add extra information to URLs (such as a click ID) in order to record attribution across domains. eg. Affiliates

The table below showcases two columns, illustrating the tracking parameters that iOS 17 will strip away and those that will remain unaffected.

At Optimise we're committed to testing all new OS releases to ensure our tracking still functions as expected. We've conducted tests with iOS17 and are pleased to confirm that Optimise Tracking performs as expected.

As this only occurs in Private mode the numbers affected will be limited but could be larger if this were to be widened to non-Private modes.

At present the impact on affiliate marketing appears to be low but we will continue to monitor and update.