What Apple’s iOS 14.5 Release Update Means for Call Tracking

As you may have heard, Apple recently updated its iOS 14.5 interface to include a change to its App Tracking Transparency policy. This change impacts how Google reports and measures conversion information, meaning businesses like CallTrackingMetrics will no longer be able to send the Google click identifier (known as GCLID) for traffic coming from some Google apps when used on iOS 14.5 devices.

What does this mean for your business and how can you make sure you’re continuing to collect valuable marketing insights from your iOS 14.5 customers? Read on to see how Google and CallTrackingMetrics are responding.

How Google Is Responding

To accommodate for this change in Apple data sharing, Google has implemented two new parameters: GBRAID and WBRAID. The new parameters will be added to the landing page URL for traffic from Google apps on iOS 14.5 devices, in place of the previous GCLID parameter.

Instead of a unique GCLID being assigned to a click, the new parameters will be created and assigned to a group of users using aggregate techniques, meaning multiple users will have the same ID assigned.

• GBRAID – App measurement (deep linked campaigns). Search & Shopping campaigns.
• WBRAID – Web measurement. YouTube, Display, and Discovery campaigns.

How CallTrackingMetrics is Adapting

As a CallTrackingMetrics customer, this could impact the accuracy of conversion data received from Google as well as conversions being sent from CTM to your Google account. If you’re currently using the Google Ads preset source in your account, it has already been updated to include the new GBRAID and WBRAID parameters, and no action is required on your end. However, if you created a custom source, you will need to add the new parameters manually.

How to Ensure Accurate Tracking in Your CTM Account

• UTM parameters still have the ability to be read and attributed to the click activities, so continue to utilize them for your Google Ads traffic, or consider implementing UTM parameters if you are not using them currently. This will allow for additional attribution to be displayed in our reports and sent into Google Analytics.
• Update any Google Ads custom tracking source to include |wbraid=.+|braid=.+ to ensure correct attribution.
• Use CTM’s Google Ads Direct Connect integration (available on our Growth and Connect Plans) to send conversions from CTM to your Google Ads account.

As the digital industry at large continues to grapple with how to address data usage and privacy concerns for consumers while still gathering valuable marketing insights for businesses, our team is committed to continuing to adapt and provide value for our customers. For everything you need to know regarding this update, please review our detailed support article.