Google is moving to make Android apps more private.

Google's data tracking system in its Chrome browser has been expanded to cover apps on Android-based smartphones. 

Its project called Privacy Sandbox aims to limit the amount of user data that can be collected by advertisers.

Apple rival is now forcing app developers to ask users for permission before tracking them.

The news will hurt firms like Meta, who rely on coding their operating systems to track consumer behavior.

Meta said this month Apple's changes will cost $ 10bn (£ 7.3bn) this year. The Google Android app is used by about 85% of smartphone owners worldwide.

No details

Third-party cookies, which use human browsing history to target ads, will be removed from the Google Chrome browser in 2023.

On the blog, Google has now extended what it calls Privacy Sandbox to Android apps, and works with solutions that will limit the sharing of user data and "work without the identification of different apps, including advertising ID".

These identifiers are tied to smartphones and used by apps to collect information. Google has said it will keep it in place for at least two years, while working with "industry" on the new system.

"We are also exploring technologies that reduce the power of private data collection, which includes secure ways for applications to integrate with the advertising SDK (software developer kits)," he added.The tech giant did not specify how he planned to do this.

Apple decided in April last year that app developers should explicitly ask users for permission to use IDFA (Advertiser Identity). Data from advertising company Flurry Analytics, and published by Apple, suggests that US users choose to opt out of tracking 96% of the time.

The Google blog did not name Apple, but instead referred to "other forums" which "took a different approach to advertising privacy, explicitly limiting existing technologies used by developers and advertisers".

"We believe that - other than giving priority to privacy, such methods will not work," he added.

Google, unlike Apple, relies on advertising revenue.

Google 's attempts to create additional third-party cookies in its Chrome browser failed.

Its first proposal - a system called Federated Learning of Cohorts (Floc) - was not liked by secret campaigners and advertisers alike.

Floc aims to hide the identity of individual users by providing them with a group with the same browsing history.

Real-time bidding

Its follower, Articles, was recently announced and aims to collect users from selected topic collections in about 350 categories such as fitness or travel. When someone visits a website, Articles will show the site and three advertising partners of their interests from the past three weeks.

The Competitions Market Authority was reviewing Google's transition to more privacy-focused systems and said of its plans to transfer them to Android applications: "We will continue to monitor this closely and communicate with Google about the nature and details of its proposals."

The central app includes at least six existing trackers for existing companies to collect and share information online, according to a report released by Apple last year.

And any data broker is estimated to have data on up to 700 million consumers, according to research firm Cracked Lab.

Administrators, such as the UK Information Commission Office, are investigating the advertising ecosystem, particularly the way ads are sold - known as real-time bidding - which automatically places billions of online ads on web pages and daily applications.