Apple is set to change how third-party app developers request users’ consent for personalised advertising on iPhones and iPads after Germany’s competition regulator raised concerns over the company’s treatment of competing apps.
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) announced on Monday that Apple had agreed to binding commitments aimed at addressing the regulator’s competition concerns, bringing the proceedings to an end.
The regulator said Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework requires third-party apps to obtain additional consent through an Apple-designed prompt for certain types of cross-company data use. However, the same requirements did not apply in an equivalent manner to Apple’s own services.
Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt said Apple could maintain strong privacy protections for its users, but its rules must not give its own services an advantage over competitors.
Under the agreement, Apple will make consent prompts for its own services and third-party apps more closely aligned. It will also remove potentially discouraging symbols and wording from its standard consent requests for third-party developers.
App publishers will additionally have greater flexibility to combine Apple’s consent request with consent requirements under data-protection laws, or link the requests in a way that is clearer to users.
Mundt stressed that the changes are not intended to increase the number of users who agree to personalised advertising. Instead, the regulator wants users to be able to make a free and informed decision about whether their data should be used.
The investigation focused on competition law rather than the enforcement of data-protection regulations.
The proceedings began in June 2022 after the German authority determined that Apple held a position of paramount significance across markets. Germany’s Federal Court of Justice confirmed the finding 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 German regulator also noted that competition authorities in France and Italy had previously fined Apple €150 million and €98.6 million respectively over proceedings related to its App Tracking Transparency framework.
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