Apple is changing how App Tracking Transparency works in the European Union with iOS 27.2. Developers will get the option to show users a different version of the App Tracking Transparency prompt once the update arrives.
Apple confirmed the change today in an update to its developer support page (via 9to5Mac), and the new prompt option is tied directly to a settlement Apple reached with EU regulators over how App Tracking Transparency treats third-party apps.
The Change Traces Back to a German Antitrust Investigation
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office spent years investigating whether Apple’s App Tracking Transparency rules put third-party apps at a disadvantage compared to Apple’s own services. Apple denied the claim throughout, arguing it holds its own apps to the same privacy standards from the start.
German regulators disagreed, and last month Apple confirmed it would comply with what it called “fairer” App Tracking Transparency rules across the EU. That agreement covers eight separate changes to how App Tracking Transparency functions in the region, and the new prompt option is one piece of that package.
Five Countries Will Only Get the New Prompt
Apple says the alternative App Tracking Transparency prompt will be optional for developers across most of the EU, but not everywhere. In a specific set of countries, it becomes the only version available.
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Poland
- Romania
Apps distributed in those five countries will show the alternative App Tracking Transparency prompt by default, with no option to fall back to the standard version.
What the Alternative Prompt Actually Changes
Apple describes the alternative prompt as having different formatting and different language from the standard App Tracking Transparency prompt. The biggest addition is a new text button labeled “Additional Information.”
Tapping that button surfaces more detail about what a developer is asking to do, including:
- Linking data collected from the app with data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline sources
- Using that combined data for targeted advertising or advertising measurement
- Sharing user or device data with a data broker
Apple also confirmed that developers in the EU will be able to show the App Tracking Transparency prompt again one year after a user’s last choice, whether that user originally accepted tracking or declined it.
Our Take
This is Apple threading a needle it did not choose to thread. App Tracking Transparency was built as a blunt, one-size-fits-all privacy control, and now regulators in one region are forcing it to carry more nuance than it was designed for.
The yearly re-prompt is interesting. A user who declines tracking once will now see that request again every twelve months, in five countries where they cannot avoid the new, more detailed version of the prompt.
