Apple is changing how App Tracking Transparency works in the European Union, introducing a redesigned tracking permission prompt as the company responds to agreements with European competition authorities.

The changes will begin with iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2. Apple says developers will have the option to use an alternative version of the App Tracking Transparency system prompt in the EU. However, the basic requirement remains the same: apps must obtain the user’s permission when their activity falls under Apple’s definition of tracking.

For apps distributed in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Romania, the alternative prompt will be the only version available because of legal requirements. Developers elsewhere in the EU will have the option to use the new interface.

The move follows regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s ATT framework in Europe. Apple describes the changes as part of agreements with “select European competition authorities,” rather than presenting them as a broader change to its privacy principles.

A different way to ask for tracking permission

Apple’s alternative ATT prompt changes both its formatting and language. One of the more significant additions is an “Additional Information” button that developers can use to provide users with more details about what their tracking request involves.

That additional information can explain requests to link data collected by an app with data gathered from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement. It can also provide information about sharing data with data brokers.

The expanded interface gives developers more room to provide context around their request while keeping Apple’s system-level permission decision in place.

Apple’s developer documentation also allows developers to use the additional-information layer to provide more granular consent controls where needed to address European privacy requirements such as the GDPR or ePrivacy rules. However, Apple makes clear that those additional controls do not replace the ATT decision itself. An app still cannot access the advertising identifier or otherwise carry out the tracking described in its ATT request until the user grants permission through Apple’s system prompt.

Users can be asked again after a year

Another important change concerns users who have already made a tracking decision.

In the EU, developers will be able to show the ATT prompt again one year after the user’s previous choice, regardless of whether the person previously allowed or rejected tracking. Apple says this re-prompting option is subject to the user’s device-level settings. If the user has disabled the system setting that allows apps to request tracking permission, the app cannot show the prompt again.

Apple is also renaming the relevant system setting in the EU. “Allow Apps to Request to Track” will become “Allow Apps to Request to Link Your Activity Across Companies,” reflecting the terminology used by the revised experience.

The change does not mean developers can repeatedly bombard users with permission requests. Apple continues to prohibit apps from manipulating or forcing people into granting unnecessary data access, and developers cannot make app functionality dependent on agreeing to ATT tracking.

The tracking rules themselves are not changing

Despite the redesigned interface, Apple emphasizes that the underlying ATT rules remain intact.

Apps still need permission before tracking users across other companies’ apps and websites in the situations covered by ATT. Without permission, the system does not provide the app with the device’s advertising identifier, or IDFA, for that purpose. Apple also says developers cannot simply substitute another identifier, such as a hashed email address or phone number, to track a user without obtaining the required permission.

That distinction is important because Apple’s latest announcement is primarily about how the permission request is presented rather than removing Apple’s privacy controls.

The changes nevertheless represent a notable adjustment to one of Apple’s most visible privacy features. ATT was introduced with iOS 14.5 as a system-level mechanism requiring apps to ask before tracking users across other companies’ apps and websites. The EU changes now give developers a more flexible way to explain those requests while addressing requirements emerging from European competition and privacy regulation.

Apple’s announcement comes after a regulatory investigation in Germany concerning aspects of its ATT framework. Reporting on the earlier agreement said Apple’s changes would include modifications to the wording and presentation of the prompt, greater flexibility for developers to provide additional information, and the ability to ask users again after a year.

For iPhone and iPad users in the EU, the practical result will be a noticeably different permission experience in supported apps once iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2 arrive. For developers, the update provides another way to explain why an app wants to connect user or device data across companies while keeping Apple’s core ATT permission requirement in place.