Apple has agreed to change how it asks iPhone and iPad users for permission to use their personal data for advertising after Germany’s competition regulator found that the current system could unfairly favor Apple’s own services over third-party apps.
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, known as the Bundeskartellamt , announced the commitments on Monday, bringing a years-long investigation into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework to an end.
Apple introduced ATT in 2021 to require apps to ask users before tracking their activity across other companies’ apps and websites.
However, the German regulator found that Apple presented consent choices differently depending on whether the request came from Apple itself or a third-party developer.
It concluded that the wording, layout and available choices in Apple’s own prompts could encourage users to approve data collection, while the prompts shown for rival apps could discourage them from doing the same.
That raised competition concerns because access to user data can be particularly important for apps that rely on personalized advertising.
Under the agreement, Apple will have to redesign consent requests for third-party apps so that they are neutral in their wording, appearance, and available options.
The company must also remove symbols and language that could discourage users from granting permission to third-party developers.
The revised design will therefore have to treat Apple’s own services and competing apps more consistently when asking users about advertising-related data use.
Apple said it still believes the existing ATT prompt gives users a clear way to control their information, but agreed to change its wording and formatting following the regulator’s demands.
Apple has four months after the decision is formally served to implement the changes.
The commitments will remain in force for seven years, with an independent monitoring trustee tasked with checking whether Apple continues to comply.
Apple is also expected to involve app developers in testing the revised consent flow before it is finalized.
The changes will apply in almost all European Union countries, according to Apple.
Germany is not the only European country to scrutinize ATT.
France has already fined Apple €150 million, while Italy imposed a €98.6 million penalty over issues involving the framework.
Apple has consistently defended ATT as a privacy feature designed to give users more control over tracking. The German case, however, focused on whether Apple applied those privacy rules equally to itself and its competitors.
The settlement means ATT itself is not disappearing. Instead, Apple will have to make the choices presented to users more consistent regardless of which company is requesting access to their data.
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