Apple Softens EU App Tracking Consent Screens After Antitrust Probe

Summary

On September 17, 2026, Apple agreed to modify App Tracking Transparency, or ATT, after a multiyear antitrust probe by Germany’s federal competition regulator and other European authorities. Regulators said ATT favored Apple because third party apps must seek permission to track users across apps or websites, while Apple’s apps can use ecosystem data without the same consent screen. Apple says ATT protects privacy, despite using ecosystem data to personalize ads in its own apps.

The more than half a dozen changes preserve the prompt requirement and its timing but let developers distributing apps in the EU use an alternative full page screen instead of a pop up, remove “track,” replace “Ask App Not to Track” with “Reject” beside “Allow,” revise colors and formatting, and link to details about data use and purpose. Apple says legal requirements mean only the alternative system prompt will be available in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Romania. Developers may ask EU users again one year after their previous ATT choice. Because users typically reject tracking, the redesign could help ad supported businesses such as Meta recover personalized advertising revenue, while ATT has hurt those businesses and benefited Apple.