Do You Really Need to Track Users to Make Money?

The Assumption We’ve All Followed

For years, tracking users has felt like a requirement for app monetization. Behavioral analytics, third-party ad SDKs, and user profiling were treated as standard practice. The logic seemed sound: the better you know your users, the better you can monetize them.

But things have changed.

The Privacy Shift

Over the past few years, the landscape has shifted dramatically. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework now requires explicit user permission for tracking. Google is phasing out third-party cookies. Laws like GDPR and CCPA are tightening the rules around data collection. Users are increasingly privacy-conscious—and less likely to say “yes” to invasive permissions.

What was once considered “smart monetization” is now often a legal and ethical minefield. Worse yet, the returns on user tracking are shrinking, especially for smaller developers who lack the scale to benefit from complex data strategies.

What If You Didn’t Have to Track at All?

Here’s the good news: you can still earn meaningful revenue without tracking users at all.

New privacy-friendly models are emerging—like background monetization, which uses idle device resources (such as bandwidth) to generate passive income. Solutions like CastarSDK enable developers to earn quietly in the background, without collecting personal data or interrupting the user experience.

No need for targeted ads. No user profiling. No privacy violations. Just clean, simple, sustainable revenue.

Privacy Is the New Advantage

Developers who adopt privacy-first monetization aren’t just playing it safe—they’re building trust. In an environment where users are quick to uninstall and platforms are quick to penalize, a clean and compliant app stands out.

It’s not just about ethics—it’s a competitive edge.

So the next time someone says, “You have to track users to make money,” ask them this:

Do you, really?
Or is it finally time to break free from that mindset?