App developer perspective: Apple and Google's anti-tracking practices actually force the use of privacy-invasive tech

Since the start of the App Stores, Apple/Google have set up a strong wall between the web and apps. For example, if you tap a link that looks like reddit.com/?trackid=123 on your phone that redirects you to the App Store and then download the app, Apple/Google make it essentially impossible for the app's code to know that it was downloaded from that link.

The problem is this tracking is incredibly important for developers (and also provides benefit to users). If …

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