Apple to overhaul app tracking consent rules in Germany

Apple will have to redesign how it asks iPhone and iPad users for permission to track their data after Germany's Federal Cartel Office closed a multi-year investigation into the company's App Tracking Transparency framework on Monday.

The regulator found Apple's own apps received more favourable consent prompts than those offered to third-party developers, a gap that potentially breached competition law.

Four months are available to make these changes happen from the time this ruling takes effect, with the commitments lasting for seven years under the supervision of an independent trustee.

The consent pop-ups that are provided to third-party applications need to be modified and should no longer include any discouraging words and images. Instead, the consent prompts will be made as neutral as Apple’s.

Third-party publishers will be able to have more freedom in combining Apple’s mandatory consent pop-up with their own, which needs to be presented in accordance with privacy laws.

Developers including Meta, which owns Facebook, rely on accurate user data to serve targeted ads, since personalised campaigns generate significantly more revenue than broad, untargeted ones.

Apple said the updated prompts would apply in almost all European Union countries, not just Germany, and confirmed it had adjusted both the text and design of the consent screen at the regulator's request.

Germany's decision follows financial penalties in two other major markets. France's competition authority fined Apple €150 million over the ATT framework, while Italy's antitrust regulator imposed a €98.6 million fine on similar grounds.