Removal of Click IDs by Safari: Why TrackAd Is Not Affected + Best Practices to Adopt

For some time now, Apple has been strengthening its privacy protection mechanisms, notably with Link Tracking Protection (LTP). This measure automatically removes certain click identifiers - such as gclid, fbclid, msclkid - from the URL during an ad click, under certain conditions.
Initially limited to private browsing or apps like Mail or Messages on iOS 17 / macOS Sonoma, LTP could be extended to standard browsing with the release of Safari 26 (linked to the iOS/macOS versions expected in September 2025).

What We Already Know

• Safari 17 began removing these IDs in specific contexts - notably private browsing.
• Safari 26 could extend this removal to ordinary browsing sessions. Pre-release builds show signs of this change, but nothing is yet definitively confirmed for all users.

UTM parameters (such as utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign) are not targeted by these removals, as they are considered “non-personally identifiable.” They continue to function without being affected.

Why TrackAd Will Not Be Impacted

• TrackAd does not use platform-specific IDs (gclid, fbclid, msclkid) for attribution and campaign reporting.
• Instead, TrackAd relies on UTMs and other tracking codes controlled by the advertiser. These descriptive parameters (source, medium, campaign…) define the origin and nature of the traffic.

Since UTMs are not removed by Safari, TrackAd’s data collection, attribution, and dashboards will remain intact. Campaign tracking will continue to work as usual, without any loss of visibility on TrackAd’s side.
To avoid reporting discrepancies in Google Ads, keep auto-tagging enabled and always tag your URLs with UTMs: Guide here.

Observable Consequences in the Ecosystem

Even though TrackAd is protected, broader impacts are expected across the marketing/analytics chain:

• In Google Ads or Meta Ads, the removal of click IDs weakens the platforms’ ability to precisely link an ad click to a conversion, especially if the visitor browses Safari in standard mode.
• An increase in “unattributed” or partially attributed conversions from Safari is possible. Attribution rates may fall, and some conversions may not be properly linked to their original campaign.
• Data reporting and analytics tools that rely on these IDs could see “gaps” in customer journeys.

Consequently, we may see smaller remarketing pools and less reliable automated optimization in ad platforms, as their machine learning models have fewer native signals.

Best Practices to Adopt Now

To anticipate, minimize losses, and ensure your analysis remains robust, here’s what is recommended:

1. Audit Click ID Usage

• Identify all cases where you depend on gclid, fbclid, or equivalents (reporting, integrations, internal workflows).
• Understand where these IDs are already disappearing (private browsing, apps, etc.) to measure the impact.

2. Strengthen Your UTM Strategy

• Standardize naming conventions: source, medium, campaign, etc.
• Systematically apply UTMs to all paid campaign URLs (search, social, display, affiliates…).
• Ensure your UTMs are complete, consistent, without unnecessary variations or special characters.

3. Implement Server-Side Solutions and First-Party Signals

• Use Conversion APIs (Meta, Google Enhanced Conversions, etc.) to pass first-party identifiers (hashed or anonymized when applicable) to platforms. This partially compensates for the loss of client-side click IDs.
• Review Final URL Suffixes (Google Ads) or other platform features that allow adding custom parameters which are not automatically removed.

4. Regular Testing and Monitoring

• When Safari 26 is officially rolled out, test user journeys from ads through to conversion to check what is removed or not in your setup.
• Compare Safari vs non-Safari data to assess the scale of the phenomenon: sessions, conversions, campaign attribution.
• Check alignment across your ad platforms, GA4, TrackAd, etc.

Conclusion

Apple appears to be moving toward a broader removal of platform-specific click IDs in Safari, beyond private browsing. This change poses challenges for tools and analyses heavily dependent on these IDs to link clicks and conversions.

However, TrackAd is not affected: its attribution relies on UTMs and codes you control.

What used to be a “bonus” (click IDs) is becoming less reliable as a main foundation. Marketing and analytics teams benefit from strengthening their fundamentals: clean UTMs, first-party signals, controls, and audits - to maintain precision and consistency in their data.

Safari click ID removal in 6 questions