Apple is set to change the way third-party apps request users’ permission for personalised advertising on iPhones and iPads following concerns raised by Germany’s competition regulator.
The Bundeskartellamt announced on Monday that Apple had agreed to a series of commitments aimed at addressing concerns over its App Tracking Transparency Framework, bringing the competition investigation to an end.
The regulator said Apple’s framework required third-party app developers to obtain additional consent through a prompt designed by Apple before carrying out certain forms of cross-company data use.
However, similar requirements were not applied to Apple’s own services in the same manner, raising concerns that the company could be giving its products an advantage over competing apps.
Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt said Apple was entitled to provide users with strong privacy protections, but such measures should not place rival app providers at a disadvantage.
Under the commitments, Apple will bring consent prompts for its own services and third-party applications more closely into line.
The company will also remove certain symbols and wording from its standard prompts that the regulator said could discourage users from granting consent to third-party apps.
App developers will further be given more flexibility to combine Apple’s consent request with consent requirements imposed under data protection laws, or present them together in a manner that is easier for users to understand.
Mundt stressed that the changes were not designed to increase the number of users who agree to personalised advertising.
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He said the objective was to ensure that users could make a genuinely free and informed choice, whether they wanted to permit the use of their data for targeted advertising or not.
The German regulator clarified that its investigation was conducted under 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. That assessment was subsequently confirmed by Germany’s Federal Court of Justice in March 2025.
Apple has four months from receiving the decision to implement the agreed changes.
The commitments will remain in force for seven years and will be overseen by an independent trustee.
The German authority noted that competition regulators in France and Italy had previously imposed fines of €150 million and €98.6 million respectively on Apple in cases involving its App Tracking Transparency Framework.
The latest decision marks another regulatory challenge to Apple’s approach to privacy and advertising controls across its digital ecosystem.