Tech giant Apple will move ahead with software changes, which will limit tracking for targeted advertising, reported AFP. This move has prompted complaints from Facebook and others.

The US-based iPhone maker said updates to its mobile operating system would give users more information and control on the tracking of their online activity by apps on Apple devices.

Earlier this year, Apple delayed the changes to give advertisers time to adapt, but decided to move forward next year, according to Apple’s letter to the nonprofit group Ranking Digital Rights.

Also Read| Apple agrees to pay another $113 million over iPhone battery complaints

Apple said, “We share concerns about users being tracked without their consent and the bundling and reselling of data by advertising networks and data brokers.”

According to a letter from Apple privacy chief Jane Horvath, it was stated that Apple supports online ads but without “unfettered data collection” and noted a split with Facebook, which had expressed concerns about the new policy.

“Facebook and others have a very different approach to targeting,” Horvath said in the letter, verified by AFP.

“Not only do they allow the grouping of users into smaller segments, they use detailed data about online browsing activity to target ads.

“Facebook executives have made clear their intent is to collect as much data as possible across both first and third party products to develop and monetise detailed profiles of their users, and this disregard for user privacy continues to expand to include more of their products.”

Facebook responded that Apple was trying to shift attention from the fact that it was collecting more data on its users.

“Apple is being accused of monitoring and tracking people’s private data from their personal computers without their customers’ knowledge through its latest update to macOS – and today’s letter is a distraction from that,” the company said in a statement sent to AFP.

“They claim it’s about privacy, but it’s about profit,” said Facebook.