App Tracking Transparency Changes Coming to the European Union ⇥ developer.apple.com
After agreeing in August with Germany’s competition authority to make changes to the App Tracking Transparency prompt, Apple has now announced the options available to developers. Unfortunately, the post on its Developer News page is terribly brief; here it is in its entirety:
As part of agreements with select European competition authorities, Apple is introducing changes to its App Tracking Transparency framework in the European Union. Beginning with iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, developers will have the option to use an alternative version of the App Tracking Transparency system prompt in the EU. The requirements for when you must seek permission to track users will remain the same. Due to legal requirements, only the alternative version of the system prompt is available for apps distributed in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Romania.
Apple did not even bother to link to the specific section in its documentation. It is a shame because these changes are, for the most part, very good. There is a new prompt screen that addresses a complaint I have with App Tracking Transparency. Instead of being a small dialog box with almost no information, it is now a whole-screen sheet that describes the mechanism of tracking, and permits developers an option to link out to a page with a developer-provided explanation.
Developers are also now allowed to ask again for permission on an annual basis. Apple says this is “regardless of whether that choice was to accept or reject”, but I doubt many developers who got a green light the first time will ask again. This could be irritating, but Apple itself provides precedent for reminding users of their privacy preferences: iOS occasionally — perhaps every few months — reminds me that an app has access to my location or my photo library and asks me to confirm my choice.
If you are in the E.U. and you think reconfirming your tracking preferences annually will be annoying, you should turn off the system-wide setting to “Allow Apps to Request to Link Your Activity Across Companies”, which is currently called “Allow Apps to Request to Track”.
Overall, I think these changes are a moderate win for E.U. users. The new permission screen is both clearer and more informative. As Apple says in the post quoted above, this sheet is available to developers as an option throughout the E.U., and is the only version permitted in a handful of countries. I think Apple should roll this out worldwide.