Apple will let EU apps use less alarming tracking consent screens

As a result of a multi-year antitrust probe by Germany’s federal competition regulator and others, Apple has agreed to modify the requirements for apps on its platforms that ask for consent to track the user across other apps or websites.

Regulators said this system, known as App Tracking Transparency, or ATT, had favored Apple over third-party apps, since Apple allows its own apps to use consumers’ data from its ecosystem without requiring a consent screen.

The new agreements with select European competition authorities don’t do away with the need to prompt users, or when that prompt is to be shown. Instead, they allow app developers whose software is distributed in the EU to display an alternative consent screen that includes modified formatting, language, and the option to link out to “additional information” about why the app is requesting this permission, among other things.