Mobile retargeting on iOS has changed in recent years. While some advertisers exercise caution, others see new opportunities. Here’s what you need to know about advertising on iOS in 2025 – and what you might be missing out on if you’re not doing it already.
Whether you’re an app business, a marketing agency, or a brand that’s developing a mobile retargeting strategy, you’ll have likely considered how to distribute your ad budgets across Android and iOS devices. Considering that Android has a 71% market share, and that Apple is limiting advertiser access to user data via its App Tracking Transparency framework (ATT), some advertisers have shifted their spend toward Google’s Android devices.
But is this the right move? And could iOS avoidance actually be a missed opportunity? In this article, we break down six benefits that come with retargeting your customers on iOS, along with insights from mobile marketing experts at Remerge, a demand-side platform (DSP) specializing in the programmatic placement and targeting of ads across third-party mobile apps. Here’s what you need to know about retargeting on iOS.
While iOS devices only account for around 30% of the global mobile market, it’s well-established that their users typically drive a higher average revenue per user (ARPU). Some reports suggest that iPhone owners actually spend four times more on in-app purchases than Android users do, making them a small but highly valuable audience for the brands and advertisers looking to target them.
More spending power means lower price sensitivity, which increases the likelihood of converting these users. Remerge CEO Pan Katsukis also notes that: “the iOS ecosystem is generally cleaner and less prone to certain types of ad fraud from publishers when compared to Android.”
In 2021, Apple introduced ATT, which gave iOS users the ability to opt in or out of being tracked across the various apps they use. Opting out means that a user’s unique advertising ID (known as IDFA) will not be shared with third parties, so in-app behavioral data can no longer be leveraged for advertising purposes.
While the majority of users tend to opt out of cross-app tracking when they install an app, not everyone does. Opt-in rates vary according to the type of app, but a recent report by mobile measurement experts Singular stated that the average opt-in rates range from 10-30% as of 2024, depending on the industry. The same report claimed that: “tracking permission for even 10% or 20% of app installs serves as a good sample size that can be extrapolated to entire cohorts.”
Deep data insights may not be as abundant as they once were before the ATT rollout, but there is still plenty of data to be leveraged. App businesses can even take their own steps to refine and test the messaging in their ATT prompts to increase the number of users who agree to cross-app tracking. If you have a solid brand reputation, more users will accept your ATT prompt, so you’ll still end up with a significant addressable audience of ID-enabled users.
In this report by Remerge and the MMP AppsFlyer, Roy Yanai (VP of Product at AppsFlyer) explains: “Big brands with apps who are embracing the ATT framework are pushing the opt-in numbers up. The chances of getting a user to consent by a well-trusted, familiar brand are much higher than a random, unknown app."
While ATT and its obfuscation of behavioral data prevent advertisers from identifying and retargeting their existing customers, advertisers can still find new users who have similar characteristics to their desired audience.
Contextual targeting is one way to do this. It allows advertisers to target users based on context derived from an app they are currently using. This context can include the app category, user location, device type, session time, and more. This may not provide the same level of data as behavioral signals (like purchasing behavior across other apps), but it still offers useful data points that can be used to improve the likelihood of conversions. A hotel booking app, for example, could place its ads across travel apps under the assumption that travelers will need accommodation too, even though the advertiser doesn’t know exactly who the users will be.
Katsukis adds: “With the latest AI developments, we can probabilistically predict a user’s performance likelihood based on signals outside of the IDFA. We can now tap into no-ID inventory by balancing accuracy, scale, and performance to drive growth for marketers. While it is not perfectly accurate, it enables retargeting to function on no-ID traffic.”
For advertisers with an app who are trying to grow their iOS user base, it’s also worth noting that the introduction of Apple’s SKAdNetwork (an attribution framework for user acquisition, or UA) now supports limited re-engagement and measurement reporting. SKAN 4.0+ features, such as hierarchical conversion values and coarse conversion measurement, allow for smarter UA campaigns, even in a privacy-preserving way.
Because Apple’s rollout of ATT created widespread concern about the viability of retargeting on iOS, many advertisers reduced their ad spend or stopped their iOS retargeting efforts entirely. However, it wasn’t all bad. Smaller ad budgets have led to reduced competition when bidding for ad placements. As a result, advertisers who continue to invest in iOS are now able to win more ad auctions on smaller budgets – and enjoy significantly lower CPMs (cost per thousand impressions).
If your competitors are not investing in iOS retargeting due to market uncertainty, it might actually be your most cost-efficient retargeting channel. The drop in competition presents a unique window of opportunity to reach premium users at relatively low cost, which is something that should be capitalized on before the market fully adjusts.
While user acquisition campaigns can help to grow your user base, they won’t necessarily drive revenue. Retargeting your existing iOS customers through programmatic in-app retargeting can complement your UA efforts and be one of the most cost-effective growth levers you have. Re-engagement campaigns help you to reactivate lapsed users and encourage repeat purchases or sessions. They also allow you to promote new content or product features and increase the overall lifetime value of your customers.
Remerge account executive Taylor Lobdell, who also co-hosts the company’s Apptivate podcast, explains: “On-demand apps such as food delivery and ride sharing see the value in retargeting because there’s a ton of competition out there. A lot of their users will make one purchase, then start using another competitor until an offer comes along to bring the user back, so that’s the benefit of retargeting lapsed audiences. We work with three out of the top five food and delivery companies, and they all understand that if they’re not retargeting, they’re missing out.”
Not every ad impression needs to bring an immediate conversion. Consistent brand presence across trusted iOS apps and high-quality inventory helps to reinforce brand recall while securing longer-term loyalty from your customers. The digital era has democratized the building of brands and mobile products, which means more competitors overall and greater competition for market share. Creating as many touchpoints as possible with both new and existing customers is the key to ensuring that your brand stays front of mind. iOS is a great channel for this, given that many brands have scaled back from it.
Retargeting on iOS isn’t dead – it’s simply evolving. Businesses that understand the new landscape and adjust their tactics accordingly are better positioned to reach high-value users at scale with greater efficiency, while benefiting from reduced competition in the ad buying marketplace.
If you’re working for or with an app business that is looking for more guidance on performance-driven in-app retargeting campaigns on iOS, feel free to reach out to our team at Remerge for more information.
