Apple is set to change how app developers seek user consent for personalised advertising on iPhones and iPads following concerns raised by Germany’s competition regulator over the company’s treatment of third-party applications.
The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) announced on Monday that Apple had agreed to a series of commitments to address the concerns. The commitments have now become legally binding, bringing the competition proceedings to an end.
The regulator said Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Framework requires third-party app providers to obtain additional consent through an Apple-designed prompt before certain types of cross-company data use can take place.
However, the authority said Apple’s own services and offerings were not subject to equivalent requirements.
Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt said Apple could provide users with privacy protections that go beyond the minimum requirements of the law, but such measures must not disadvantage competing services.
“It is key that personal data and privacy are protected effectively when using apps. Apple is allowed to provide for a level of protection for its users that exceeds the minimum legal requirements,” Mundt said.
He added that when Apple establishes additional data-use rules within its ecosystem, those rules must not favour its own products over those of competitors under Germany’s competition rules for large digital companies.
“This is precisely where our competition concerns arose. Apple will now align the consent requests much more closely and give third-party app providers more freedom to combine the necessary requests in a sensible way,” he said.
Under the new commitments, Apple will make consent prompts for its own services and third-party applications more closely aligned. It will also remove potentially discouraging symbols and wording from its standard consent requests for third-party developers.
The regulator said app publishers would have greater flexibility to combine Apple’s consent prompt with consent requests required under data protection laws or link the requests in a manner that is clearer to users.
Mundt stressed that the changes were not designed to increase the number of users consenting to personalised advertising.
“It is expressly not our aim to help achieve the highest possible levels of consent to personalised advertising. We want to ensure that users can make a free and informed decision,” he said.
He added that users who reject the use of their data for personalised advertising should be able to make that decision as freely and knowingly as those who choose to consent.
The Bundeskartellamt clarified that its investigation focused on competition law and was not intended to enforce data protection regulations.
The proceedings began in June 2022 after the authority determined that Apple held a position of paramount significance across markets. Germany’s Federal Court of Justice upheld that assessment in March 2025.
Apple has four months from the date it receives the decision to implement the agreed changes.
The commitments will remain in effect for seven years and will be monitored by an independent trustee.
The Bundeskartellamt also noted that competition authorities in France and Italy had previously fined Apple €150 million and €98.6 million respectively in proceedings related to its App Tracking Transparency Framework.
