What is the iOS 26 update?

iOS 26 is Apple’s latest version of their operating system for mobile devices and tablets.
As part of iOS26 Apple are making some changes to the way that Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) works in the Safari browser.

How does it impact your data?

iOS26 will now remove some click identifiers used for advertising purposes such as Google Ads / Search Ads 360 and Display (gclid, dclid) , Meta (fbclid), Microsoft Ads / Bing (MSCLKID) and TikTok (TTCLID).
However, from our testing this only happens by default when opening messages from the Mail App (email when using Apple’s mail app), Messages App (SMS) and when Safari is in Private browsing mode.

It will not strip out click identifiers in normal browsing, only in Private Browsing mode unless a user has changed the default ITP settings deep within the Safari App, which is unlikely for most day to day users.

In App browsing, e.g. when links open inside the Facebook App and not in the default Safari browser, are also unaffected regardless of the setting.

UTM parameters are also unaffected in all instances.

How does it impact media tracking?

Given that this is not enabled by default, it should only have minimal impact on media tracking.
Also UTM parameters and Google search and Ads wbraid and gbraid parameters are also unaffected, however it’s possible that you may see some small drops in advertising click attribution in your Analytics platforms, especially for iOS users that use Private Browsing mode, or have changed the default settings for Intelligent Tracking Prevention.

What do you need to do?

If you haven’t already, we would recommend using UTM parameters for all advertising click URLs to your website. Including Meta and Google Ads / Display / Search Ads 360 Microsoft Ads etc.

So for Google Ads etc. we would recommend using both auto-tagging and manual tagging combined to ensure traffic sources are correctly classified in the event of click identifiers being stripped by ITP in Safari.

When does it come into force ?

The updates will happen when iOS26 is released sometime around the 26th September 2025, and users update to the new iOS version.

Still confused or need help with anything else?

Email us on data@fabric-analytics.com for more information or to book your free tracking audit.