digital privacy
Advertising ID
The resettable identifier every smartphone carries that lets apps and ad networks assemble your behavior into one profile.
The advertising ID (Apple's IDFA, Google's AAID) is a device-level identifier that apps and ad networks use to recognize you across services — the connective tissue of mobile ad tracking. It is technically resettable, and almost nobody resets it.
Every app you open can report your behavior against this one ID, letting brokers assemble a unified profile: what you use, when, where, and what you might buy. Dumbphones simply do not have one — there is no app ecosystem to feed it. That single absence removes the backbone of commercial mobile surveillance.
Related Terms
View all →Data broker
A company that buys, aggregates, and resells personal data — location trails, purchases, profiles — usually without your knowledge.
Location tracking
The continuous recording of where your phone — and therefore you — goes, via GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cell towers.
SDK tracker
Third-party tracking code embedded inside ordinary apps, silently reporting your usage and location to companies you have never heard of.