Apple relaxes transparency prompt rules in the European Union

Years of antitrust investigations by the German Federal Cartel Office and other European regulators have yielded results. According to ixbt.com, Apple has agreed to change its requirements for obtaining user consent for tracking within apps on its platforms. These changes are significant as they aim to create a fair competitive environment and restore balance. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

The issue is that the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system introduced by Apple has long been subject to criticism. Regulators believe this system gave the company an artificial advantage over third-party apps by allowing its own apps to use user data without any warning prompts. As a result, digital market participants, particularly businesses relying on advertising revenue, suffered significant losses.

New opportunities for European users

Under the agreement reached with EU competition authorities, the requirement to ask for user consent remains, but its format will change fundamentally. Developers will be allowed to display alternative prompts in a softer, less intimidating format. These updates include more than six key amendments expected to positively influence end-user decisions.

Specifically, under the new rules, consent prompts will no longer be displayed as small pop-ups but as full-page screens. Additionally, the word "track" has been removed from the text, and the button design has been updated. Users will now be offered "Allow" and "Decline" options, replacing the previous "Ask App Not to Track" phrasing.

Additional information and regional restrictions

Developers are also being given the opportunity to include links with additional information explaining why such permission is necessary. It has been stated that these changes, in accordance with legal requirements, will only apply to apps distributed in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Romania.

Experts note that due to the previous intimidating system, the majority of users opted out of tracking, which dealt a blow to advertising businesses like Meta. Apple, meanwhile, continued to display personalized ads using its own ecosystem under the guise of protecting personal data and privacy. Now, app developers are allowed to re-request consent from EU users one year after their last choice.