After years of regulatory pressure from Germany's federal competition authority and others, Apple has agreed to modify its App Tracking Transparency system, the mechanism that requires apps to prompt users before tracking them across other apps or websites. Regulators had argued the system unfairly favored Apple, since the company allows its own apps to use consumer data from its ecosystem without showing a consent screen. The new agreements, covering apps distributed in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Romania, do not eliminate the consent prompt but give developers significantly more flexibility in how they present it. The key changes include displaying consent requests as full-page screens instead of disruptive pop-ups, removing the loaded word track from the prompt language, switching the choice buttons to Allow and Reject instead of the original framing, and letting developers offer a clickable link explaining why they are requesting tracking permission. Developers will also be permitted to re-prompt EU users one year after a previous choice.
Apple Will Let EU Apps Show Less-Alarming Tracking-Consent Screens After Antitrust Pressure
After years of regulatory pressure, Apple is redesigning its App Tracking Transparency prompts in five EU countries, letting developers use full-page screens, friendlier button language, and contextual explanations.
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