 Flickr/pasukaru76 Apple's launch of the iPhone 5 in September came with a bunch of new commercials to promote the device. But Apple didn't shout quite so loud about an enhancement to its new mobile operating system, iOS 6, which also occurred in September: The company has started tracking users so that advertisers can target them again, through a new tracking technology called IFA or IDFA. The hope is that the opt in status is “on” by default, so that the mobile ad industry can work with the new ID system but simultaneously allow users who have concerns about tracking to opt out. In June, Apple announced the introduction of 2 new IDs in the UIDevice class as part of iOS6 (which will be available in the fall): 
 
 identifierForAdvertising (IDFA) which is a cross-app/publisher identifier 
 
 identifierForVendor (IDFV) which is a publisher-specific identifier 
 
 This is great news for the mobile app advertising industry, as it will significantly impact the industry’s revenue and growth. (We knew there had to be a silver lining to default iOS 6 maps.) Instead, it's found under "General," then "About," and then the "Advertising" section of the Settings menu.
– There's an iOS6 feature you probably haven't heard of that's making some people very happy. Unfortunately, those people are advertisers. The new iPhone OS comes with a new tracking system that clues advertisers in on how you're using the phone, Business Insider reports. Tracking is turned on by default, and the option to turn it off is downright hidden—it's not, as you might expect, in your "privacy" settings, it's in your "general" settings under "about." (The site has a how-to here.) Users have been enjoying a blissful window of privacy until now, after Apple shut down its old UDID system. But unlike the old system, the new IFA (Identifier For Advertisers) is anonymous and temporary, like a browser cookie. "It's a really simple, elegant solution," gushes one ad exec, saying it gives "a really meaningful inference of behavior. We haven't had access to that information before." Another ad CEO writes that it's "great news for the mobile app advertising industry," particularly because it "addresses privacy concerns."