Google Analytics will stop collecting IP addresses. Companies will soon be required to update to Google Analytics 4.
At this time, Universal Analytics is the standard version of Google Analytics. From 2023 onwards, Universal Analytics will be phased out and replaced by Google Analytics 4.
Universal Analytics tracks user cookies by default; Google Analytics 4 does not. Some options can be turned on, but most are disabled by default. Furthermore, to avoid any possible privacy conflict, IP address storage will be removed entirely from Google Analytics 4.
In the past months, Google Analytics has been under increasing pressure from European privacy regulators. Several regulators call on businesses to avoid the software entirely. Google is implicitly addressing the issue by removing Universal Analytics.
Timeline
Google provided a timeline for the transition of Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. All standard installations of Universal Analytics will stop functioning on July 1, 2023. The business version of Universal Analytics 360 will continue to operate until October 1, 2023. Businesses will still have access to old data for six months after that date. In the meantime, they’re required to update to Google Analytics 4.
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