Apple to Offer EU Developers a Softer Tracking-Consent Prompt

Apple to Offer EU Developers a Softer Tracking-Consent Prompt

Apple will give developers in the European Union the option to use a redesigned, less intimidating version of its tracking-consent pop-up, following years of antitrust pressure over claims the current system unfairly favored Apple's own apps.

What's changing

Starting with iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, developers distributing apps in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Romania will be able to use an alternate version of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt. The move doesn't reduce user privacy, according to Apple — the same permission rules still apply, just with different wording and design so third-party apps aren't made to look more intrusive than Apple's own.

The new prompt reportedly drops the word "tracking" from the selection screen entirely, and developers will get an option to add supplementary context explaining their data practices. The button choices are also being reworked — rather than a stark "Ask App Not to Track" versus "Allow," the framing shifts to more neutral, symmetric language. Developers will additionally be allowed to re-prompt users for consent a year after a previous refusal, which wasn't possible before.

Why it's happening

The change resolves a long-running clash with Germany's Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt), which investigated whether ATT gave Apple's own services an unfair edge. The regulator found that Apple's framework gave its own apps more favorable consent prompts than those shown to third-party developers, a setup that potentially breached competition rules.

Under the resulting commitments — which apply across nearly all EU countries and remain in force for seven years under an independent trustee's supervision — third-party consent windows must be redesigned to strip out language and symbols that could discourage users from granting permission, becoming visually and linguistically neutral. Apple has four months from the decision being served to roll the changes out.

Apple isn't conceding the point entirely. The company maintains that its current prompt is clear, easy to understand, and effective at keeping users in control of their data — a view it says German data protection authorities share — but agreed to revise the prompt's text and formatting at the regulator's request.

Background

ATT has been a flashpoint since its 2021 launch. The framework requires developers to get user consent before tracking data across third-party apps and websites, for things like personalized advertising, and advertising networks have complained since day one that it hurts smaller businesses that rely on targeted ads to reach customers. This settlement doesn't touch that underlying consent requirement — it only changes how the request looks and reads.