Apple may be preparing to track when Google promotes Chrome or the Google app to users browsing in Safari, and how users react to those promotions. Here are the details.
Safari may soon track Google promotions
Since iOS 27.2 beta 2, Apple has been testing code in Safari that can detect when Google shows banners promoting Chrome or the Google app on its search pages, as well as whether users interact with those promotions.
While this does not mean that Apple will ship this telemetry feature when iOS 27.2 officially launches, it does suggest that Apple is at least experimenting with a way to measure how often Google promotes its own apps to Safari users and how those users respond.
It is currently unclear why Apple is testing the feature. However, the new code comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny of competition between Safari and rival browsers, including how users are steered toward alternatives such as Chrome.
In the UK, for instance, Google has specifically cited its efforts to promote Chrome to iPhone users as evidence that it continues to compete with Safari, while regulators have examined whether the companies’ search agreement reduces their incentives to compete in browsers.
In the European Union, in turn, Apple is also subject to Digital Markets Act requirements around browser choice and defaults, with the European Commission previously investigating whether its Safari choice screen complied with those rules.
So whether Apple intends to collect and use this data for its own benefit or as part of an effort to address growing regulatory scrutiny over browser competition remains to be seen.
What the code does establish is that Apple has built Safari to detect and log those interactions, and the system works like this: Safari injects a .js script into certain Google home and search results pages, which looks for visible promotional banners or other Google page elements intended to encourage users to open or install Chrome or the Google app.
Safari then looks for links associated with either app, including their custom URL schemes and App Store IDs. If it detects a promotion, it can log certain events, including whether the banner was shown, whether the user appears to be signed in to a Google account, and whether the user interacted with the promotion. This allows Apple to categorize the interaction as either accepted or dismissed and log that result.
As of iOS 27.2 beta 3 and Safari 27.2 beta release notes, Apple has yet to publicly document the feature.
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