Safari blocks tracking: what changes for your ad campaigns

A software update arrived without warning, cutting off some of the biggest advertising tracking tools from Safari. If you have active campaigns, a portion of your audience has already become invisible.

Should you really worry, or is it just an issue for the big players?

The block affects anyone who advertises digitally with cross-site tracking tools: not only large networks, but also SMEs with Google, Meta, or programmatic campaigns. The extent of the damage depends on how much traffic comes from Safari and how much your tools rely on user identity.

Apple has released an iOS update that blocks some of the best-known companies in the advertising tracking sector, preventing them from working on Safari. The list of blocked companies is decided by Apple unilaterally, without notice and without public explanation.

For those managing paid campaigns — Google Ads, Meta, programmatic — this means that a portion of the audience on Safari stops being trackable. You can no longer know for sure who saw your ad, who clicked, and who bought.

What really happened: which companies were hit and by how much?

Apple has updated its blacklist of blocked tracking tools on Safari, affecting some of the most used platforms in the advertising industry. The damage is already measurable, even though only 8% of users have installed the update.

According to reports by Digiday , the Aditude platform — which helps publishers sell ad space — found that Safari on iPhone and iPad generates 11.7% of impressions and 11.4% of ad revenue for its clients. Among users who have already installed the update, eCPMs (i.e., actual revenue per thousand ads shown) have dropped by 10.5%.

The Trade Desk, one of the industry's leading ad servers, was blocked without notice. Only after its engineers flagged the issue as a bug did Apple remove the block in a test version — but those using the current version of iOS are still blocked.

The fourth quarter is the period when publishers and advertising platforms make most of their revenue. The block arrived exactly at the beginning of this period.

It's not the first time. In 2017 and 2021, Apple had already reduced tracking capabilities on Safari. In 2022, Meta stated that Apple's privacy restrictions would cause a negative impact of about 10 billion dollars on their ad revenue in just one year. Those who have already lived through those moments know that the impact grows as users update their devices.

How big is Safari's impact on Italian traffic? The numbers you need to know

In Italy, Safari accounts for 13.4% of desktop and mobile browsers, but rises to over a third of mobile traffic. If your audience uses iPhones, the problem is concrete already today.

Before deciding how much to worry, you need to understand how much of your traffic goes through Safari. Italian and European data say different things, and it's worth looking at both.

In Italy, according StatCounter , Safari holds 13.4% of the overall browser share (June 2026). In Europe, the share rises to 19.9% (September 2026). But the most relevant data for those running mobile campaigns is another: Apple holds 36.5% of the smartphone market in Italy, and on iPhones, the default browser is Safari.

Translated into practice: if you sell products or services to Italian consumers and have active mobile campaigns, over a third of your smartphone audience uses an Apple device. That slice of the audience is the most exposed to Safari's restrictions.

What changes in practice for those managing paid campaigns?

The block doesn't eliminate ads on Safari, but it makes conversions invisible and prevents cross-site retargeting. Those who don't adapt their measurement strategy will see reports worsen without understanding why.

Ad tracking works thanks to small pieces of code (so-called tag or pixel ) which recognize the same user across different sites. Apple has blocked some of the companies that manage these tools, preventing them from working on Safari.

Practical outcome: if a user sees your ad on Safari, then visits your site and buys, that conversion might not show up in your reports. Your cost per acquisition looks higher than it really is, and your optimization algorithm receives wrong signals.

Three practical scenarios: what happens to an e-commerce store, a professional firm, and a manufacturing company?

The impact varies greatly depending on the type of business and channel mix. Here are three examples to help you understand where you stand.

Illustrative examples: numbers are meant to show the reasoning, they are not real customer data.

A fashion e-commerce with high mobile traffic is the most exposed case: if 35% of users use iPhone, a significant portion of conversions risks disappearing from reports. The B2B professional firm has a different problem: contact forms filled out by Safari users are not attributed to the right channel, and the sales team doesn't know where the lead came from. The manufacturing company doing retargeting on European iPhone buyers discovers that its custom audience list is progressively emptying.

For those managing multi-channel campaigns, it's also worth reading how the measurement and attribution on Amazon Ads : the fragmented data problem isn't just about Safari.

What alternatives exist to measure and target without Safari tracking?

There are concrete approaches to reduce dependence on cross-site tracking: some require technical development, others are accessible even without a dedicated IT team.

Server-side conversion is the most robust technical solution: it moves tracking from the browser (where Apple can block it) to your site's server, where Apple has no access. It requires a developer, but it's compatible with Google Tag Manager and Meta's conversion APIs.

First-party data is the most underestimated asset. If you have a CRM with customer emails, you can upload those lists to ad platforms and build lookalike audiences without relying on cookies. It's a strategy that works regardless of what Apple does.

Anyone who wants to learn more about how to diversify channels can also take a look at new opportunities offered by ChatGPT Ads as an alternative channel to reach audiences that escape traditional tracking.

Why everyone is talking about it now: is the Italian advertising market really at risk?

The Italian digital advertising market is worth 6.2 billion euros and is growing. But a growing part of that value depends on tracking tools that Apple is progressively dismantling.

According to Internet Media Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano , in 2025 the internet advertising market in Italy reached 6.2 billion euros (+11% compared to the previous year), equal to 53% of the entire advertising market. Growth to 7 billion euros is expected for 2026.

Growth and vulnerability go hand in hand. The more digital advertising accounts for the total advertising investment, the more each technical restriction has a real impact on company budgets. And the Safari block is not an isolated event: it's the latest in a series of moves that Apple has been making since 2017.

The critical point is the fourth quarter. It's the period when the highest budgets are concentrated — Black Friday, Christmas, winter sales — and the block arrived exactly at the beginning of this window. Those who haven't yet adapted their measurement strategy risk making wrong decisions in the most important months of the year.

It is worth remembering that other technical changes are also reshaping campaign measurement: the way in which YouTube counts views it has changed, and anyone who hasn't updated their benchmarks risks misreading the data.

What concrete risks do you need to manage in the coming months?

The main risk isn't the blocking itself, but making budget decisions based on incomplete data. There are also secondary risks related to dependence on single vendors.

Apple's block hits asymmetrically: those who depend on a vendor on Apple's blacklist lose tracking capabilities overnight, without notice. The Trade Desk was blocked and then partially restored in a test version — but those using the current version of iOS are still blocked.

This creates a risk of dependency on third-party vendors you don't control. If your advertising stack relies on a single ad server or a single tracking tool, you are exposed to sudden disruptions.

How to get started practically: the steps to adapt your strategy right now?

You don't need to revolutionize everything in a week. Four priority actions in the right order are enough to limit the damage and build a more solid foundation.

E-commerce managers can also find useful tips by looking at how Shopify is integrating AI channels to distribute products on channels where traditional tracking is not the main constraint.

What are the most common mistakes people make when tackling this issue?

The first mistake is waiting for the problem to get big before taking action. The second is changing the numbers in the reports without changing the underlying strategy.

Many marketing teams see their data worsening and look for explanations in campaign content or budget. They rarely look at tracking first. If your numbers have worsened in recent weeks without an obvious cause, the Safari block is the first place to look.

How to tell if your measurement strategy is holding up

There are precise indicators that tell you if your data is reliable or if you're flying blind. Monitoring them every week, at least for the next two months, is essential.

A useful comparison: look at how you are measuring campaigns on other channels. If you've already tackled the attribution issue on Amazon Ads with AI formats , the same attribution questions apply here as well. Data fragmentation is a cross-cutting issue, not specific to Safari.

So, is it worth taking action right away or can it wait?

It depends on how much Safari traffic you have and how much you rely on cross-site tracking. But waiting has a cost that grows every week.

It is worth it if you have active paid campaigns with more than 15% of traffic from Safari or iOS, you do retargeting on mobile audiences, or your ROAS depends on last-click attributions. Every week that passes without intervention means more distorted data and less accurate budget decisions.

A middle ground your Safari traffic is between 5% and 15%, and you already have some server-side measures active. You can proceed with medium priority, but you still need to plan the tracking update by the end of the year.

Not yet if you operate on a subscription model, you have very little mobile traffic, or your campaigns are entirely based on already consolidated first-party data. In this case, the Safari block has a marginal impact on your operations.

How we see it at SHM

For us, the Safari block isn't a technical crisis: it's a reminder that building your advertising strategy on data you don't control is a structural risk. AI and platform algorithms work wonders when they receive good signals — but if the input data is incomplete, they optimize in the wrong direction.

We've worked with companies that found themselves cutting effective campaigns because reports showed a declining ROAS, without realizing the problem was in the tracking, not the campaign. The first thing we do in these cases is a tracking audit: understanding what's actually being measured, what's being missed, and where the data is reliable.

We believe technology should help make better decisions, not create the illusion of control. A report that seems accurate but is based on partial data is more dangerous than a report that admits its limitations.

If you want to understand where you are exposed and how to strengthen your measurement strategy, you can start with an analysis of your current stack with our service of strategic AI integration , or figure out how to set up more resilient campaigns with the help of google ads campaigns and on Meta campaigns . For a complete overview of the topic, check out all the articles in the cluster Marketing and ADV performance .

Frequently Asked Questions

The real problem isn't Safari: it's finding out that your budget decisions were based on data you never really checked.