how anonymize Google Analytics for iOS for GDPR / RGPD purpose

Question

I wonder if it is possible to use Google Analytics for iOS in a anonymized way.
It is currently possible to :
- disable IDFA (https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ios/v3/optional-features)
- anonymize IP (https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ios/v3/advanced)

But is there any other identifier that Google Analytics may use ?
for exemple, does Google Analytics use the IDFV ? (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uidevice/1620059-identifierforvendor)

Answer 1

You can find everything here: https://support.google.com/firebase/answer/9019185?hl=en

Site and/or app owners using Google Analytics and Google Analytics for Firebase (aka “customers”) may find this a useful resource, particularly if they are businesses affected by the European Economic Area’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or California's California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), or other similar regulations.

Answer 2

Disabling IDFV and Personalized Ads

Disabling IDFA is possible. There are two ways, programmatically, and through Google Analytics "admin panel". Additionally, you should probably setup your Firebase accordingly, and configure all GADRequests. I explain all of them below.

Programmatically disabling IDFA

To programmatically control whether a user's Analytics data should be used for personalized advertising, set the appropriate default behavior in the app's AndroidManifest.xml file, and then use the methods described below to override that default behavior.

To set the default personalized advertising behavior, set the value of GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_DEFAULT_ALLOW_AD_PERSONALIZATION_SIGNALS to NO (Boolean) in your app's Info.plist file.

Disabling IDFA via settings

You can also control whether data collected from end users may be used for ads personalization via the ads personalization setting, found in Google Analytics’ Property settings.

Here is a screenshot of this setting in Google Analytics "Admin Panel":

Go to your Google Analytics dashboard, select the Product, then follow these steps:

Disabling during Firebase setup

Additionally, make sure you use AnalyticsWithoutAdIdSupport when you add Firebase to your app. See the documentation here.

If you installed Firebase through CocoaPods by adding pod 'Firebase/Analytics' to your app's Podfile and wish to disable collection of the IDFA (a device's advertising identifier) in your Apple app, ensure that the AdSupport framework is not included in your app. To install Firebase without any IDFA collection capability, use the following subspec in place of pod

'Firebase/Analytics': pod ‘Firebase/AnalyticsWithoutAdIdSupport'

Serving Non-Personalized Ads via GADRequest

Additionally, you can configure GADRequest objects to specify that only non-personalized ads should be requested, as explained in the documentation.

The following code causes non-personalized ads to be requested regardless of whether or not the user is in the EEA:

let request = GADRequest()
let extras = GADExtras()
extras.additionalParameters = ["npa": "1"]
request.register(extras)

Disabling IDFV Collection

You can also disable IDFV (Identifier for Vendor) collection.

If you wish to disable collection of the IDFV (Identifier for Vendor) in your Apple app, set the value of GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_IDFV_COLLECTION_ENABLED to NO (Boolean) in your app's Info.plist file.

IP Anonymization

IP Anonymization is no longer necessary according to Google Analytics 4 documentation:

“In Google Analytics 4, IP anonymization is not necessary since IP addresses are not logged or stored.”

_{Disclaimer: I only write this answer to help others. This is not a legal advice, and information in this answer may not be complete, up-to-date, and/or correct.}