• January 29, 2013

Apple's newest iOS software, released on Tuesday, lets users reset the advertising identifier on iPhones and iPads. The new feature marks Apple's latest attempt to give users more control over mobile tracking.

Apple came under fire several years ago when it came to light that many popular apps were using iPhone unique device identifiers -- 40-character alphanumeric strings -- to track users. In 2011, Apple said it would phase out developers' access to the UDIDs.

Last year, the company rolled out a replacement tracking mechanism, the ad identifier. At the time, Apple gave users the ability to set the identifier to do-not-track. Today's move gives consumers another layer of control by letting them delete old identifiers.