Apple To Change iPhone Ad Consent Rules 

Apple will change how app providers seek user consent for personalised advertising on iPhones and iPads following concerns raised by Germany’s competition authority over its treatment of third-party apps.

The German regulator, Bundeskartellamt, said on Monday that Apple had offered commitments to address its concerns, which have now been made binding, bringing the competition proceedings to an end.

The authority said Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Framework required third-party app providers to obtain additional consent through an Apple-defined prompt for certain forms of cross-company data use, while similar rules did not apply in the same way to Apple’s own offerings.

Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt said Apple was entitled to provide users with privacy protections that exceed legal requirements, but should not apply rules within its ecosystem in a way that favours its own services over competitors.

Under the commitments, Apple will make consent prompts for its own offerings and third-party apps more closely aligned and remove potentially discouraging symbols and wording from its predefined requests for third-party providers.

App publishers will also have greater freedom to combine Apple’s consent request with those required under data protection law, or connect them in a way that is clear to users.

Mundt stressed that the changes were not intended to increase consent rates for personalised advertising, but to ensure users could make free and informed choices about how their data is used.

He said users who do not want their data used for personalised advertising should be able to opt out of such use as freely as those who consent.

The Bundeskartellamt said its investigation focused on competition law rather than enforcing data protection regulations.

The proceedings began in June 2022 after the authority determined that Apple held a position of paramount significance for competition across markets. Germany’s Federal Court of Justice confirmed that finding in March 2025.

Apple has four months from the date of receiving 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 authority noted that competition regulators in France and Italy had previously fined Apple €150 million and €98.6 million, respectively, over proceedings concerning its App Tracking Transparency Framework.