German Cartel Office forces Apple to adjust tracking protection
App Tracking Transparency on the iPhone is considered a milestone in protection against personalized advertising. However, according to the German authorities, Apple has systematically favored its own apps with this.
Apple must comprehensively restructure its protection against tracking in Germany. The Federal Cartel Office has concluded proceedings against the App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATTF) and accepted binding commitments from the company. The core accusation was that Apple favored its own services over third-party providers when obtaining tracking consents.
Since the introduction of the ATTF in April 2021, apps must ask for consent before using tracking data for personalized advertising. If you decline, the advertising ID assigned by Apple to each device, among other things, is switched off. With this ID, providers can create cross-app profiles including location data and infer interests. The ATTF is considered a milestone in data protection on smartphones.
Neutral texts instead of "deterrent" elements
The strict requirements applied to third-party apps, but not to Apple's own. And according to the Cartel Office's assessment, Apple designed the consent requests in such a way that users routinely rejected tracking by third parties. For example, Apple used warning symbols and formulations that made tracking appear particularly risky. The company must now remove these "deterrent" elements. In the future, the requests should appear visually and linguistically neutral.
Source: Apple
At the same time, Apple must align the consent for its own ad tracking with the rules for third-party providers. The various notices and selection options must no longer differ in such a way that Apple gains a competitive advantage. The proceedings are based on a law that applies to digital corporations with "paramount cross-market significance." The Federal Court of Justice confirmed Apple's special status in 2025.
Third-party providers will also be given more creative freedom. In the future, they will be able to explain in Apple's system, in up to 4000 characters, why personalized advertising is important for their business model. In addition, they may combine the consent required by Apple with data protection consents. This allows users to make both decisions in one step, instead of clicking through multiple windows.
Success for advertising associations, but not necessarily for user-friendliness
The Cartel Office emphasizes that the goal is not higher consent rates, but informed and as uninfluenced decisions as possible – both for and against personalized advertising. For iPhone owners, however, the decision is likely to lead to more cumbersome dialog boxes in everyday life. They are expected to be longer and contain additional links.
The proceedings were initiated by complaints from advertising and media associations, who see Apple's strict tracking protection as an interference with their ad-financed business models. Large platforms like Meta had complained about significant revenue losses due to less targeted advertising after the introduction of ATTF.
Apple now has four months to implement the promised changes. The commitments are valid for seven years and will be monitored by an independent trustee. Apple will implement them not only in Germany but also in almost all other EU countries. This is because cartel authorities in France and Italy have already imposed millions in fines on the company. Swiss iPhone users are likely to be spared the longer ATT dialogues for the time being.
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