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What did Apple say about ATT in Europe?
In a statement reported by the German Press Agency on October 24, 2025, Apple said that “intense lobbying efforts” by the advertising industry and regulators in Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe could force it to withdraw ATT. Apple argued that the feature gives people control over cross-company tracking and said it would continue urging European authorities to let it remain. The statement was a warning about a possible outcome, not an announcement of a product change. Thurrott’s report on Apple’s statement describes the reported regulatory context.
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Status documented as of August 18, 2026: Apple’s current iPhone support page still explains how to manage tracking permissions, and its developer page still describes ATT requirements. The reviewed sources do not verify that Apple has disabled ATT across Europe. These documents establish that Apple continues to document the feature; they do not, by themselves, confirm identical availability in every European country. Apple’s iPhone tracking-permissions guide · Apple’s developer privacy and data-use guidance
What App Tracking Transparency does
Apple introduced ATT with iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5 and tvOS 14.5 in April 2021. It governs a defined kind of tracking: linking data about a person or device from an app with data from other companies’ apps, websites or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement. When an app wants to carry out covered tracking, it must request permission under Apple’s rules. Apple Support’s overview of App Tracking Transparency and Apple’s developer requirements explain the system.
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- This phone is unlocked and compatible with any carrier of choice on GSM and CDMA networks (e.g. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular, Cricket, Metro, Tracfone, Mint Mobile, etc.).
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If a user chooses Ask App Not to Track, the app cannot access the device’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) for that tracking and must not conduct covered tracking using other identifying information. ATT does not make the IDFA the only relevant identifier: Apple’s rules also apply to attempts to track using other information that identifies a user or device. Users can revisit their choices later.
ATT is not a ban on every form of analytics or advertising. First-party analysis within a developer’s own services, contextual advertising, aggregated measurement and other activities may fall outside ATT’s definition, depending on the data and how it is used. Avoiding IDFA access alone does not make a data practice permissible: developers still have to follow applicable law and App Store rules.
Why competition authorities challenged the implementation
The core question is whether Apple can pursue a legitimate privacy aim while designing and applying the rules in a competitively neutral way. A permission step can protect users, but regulators have examined whether the way ATT operates creates extra friction for third-party apps, whether Apple’s own advertising practices face equivalent requirements, and whether the resulting disadvantage affects businesses that rely on advertising.
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In France, the competition authority found that ATT did not itself provide a legally sufficient consent mechanism under French data-protection requirements. Third-party publishers therefore still needed their own consent-management systems. In the authority’s view, the combination could produce multiple consent windows and an unnecessarily burdensome journey for users, while imposing additional costs and friction on publishers. The authority’s criticism was directed at the proportionality and implementation of ATT, not at the general idea of giving people more control over tracking.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority also identified a possible competition trade-off: ATT could bring privacy benefits while harming ad-funded apps, affecting app discovery and potentially benefiting Apple’s own advertising services. That assessment raises a potential incentive and market-effects concern; it does not, by itself, prove improper intent or establish a final finding that Apple’s advertising services were exempt. The CMA’s mobile ecosystems interim report discusses those possible effects.
France’s €150 million penalty
On March 31, 2025, France’s Autorité de la concurrence fined Apple €150 million over its implementation of ATT. The authority examined conduct from April 2021 through July 2023 and found an abuse of Apple’s dominant position in the distribution of apps on iOS and iPadOS. It also ordered Apple to publish a summary of the decision on its website for seven consecutive days.
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The decision did not say that the privacy objective behind ATT was inherently objectionable. The authority considered the implementation disproportionate, including the additional consent burden faced by third-party app publishers. The fine was a French competition-law decision about Apple’s conduct in the specified period; it was not a Europe-wide ban on ATT. France’s competition authority published the decision and its reasoning.
What is known about Germany and Italy?
Germany: scrutiny, not a verified final ruling here
The reported concern in Germany was that strict ATT requirements applied to third-party providers but not to Apple in the same way. The reporting describes scrutiny by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office; the available material does not establish a final ruling. It is therefore more accurate to describe this as a review of possible differential treatment than as a decision that ATT was unlawful. The report on Apple’s warning and the national proceedings provides this procedural context.
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Italy: a reported proceeding, outcome not established
Apple named Italy among the countries where it said regulatory pressure could threaten ATT. The same reporting said Italy’s competition authority was expected to share conclusions later in 2025, but the sources available for this article do not establish the outcome. That is not evidence that Italy reached no decision; it means a final result cannot be confirmed from the cited material.
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Is the European Union ordering Apple to turn off ATT?
The available sources do not establish that the European Commission ordered Apple to disable ATT. Several related legal and policy issues should not be collapsed into one “EU pressure” story:
- National competition proceedings: France imposed a penalty over ATT’s implementation; Germany’s reported scrutiny concerned possible differences in treatment; Italy’s reported proceeding has no outcome established by the sources cited here.
- The Digital Markets Act (DMA): Apple’s September 24, 2025 statement about the DMA discusses issues including alternative app marketplaces, payments, interoperability, feature delays and data-access requests. It does not establish a Commission order to turn off ATT. Apple’s DMA statement is the company’s account of those changes.
- Data-protection rules: Competition law and privacy law ask different questions. A competition authority can examine whether the design or application of a platform rule disadvantages rivals; data-protection rules govern how personal data may be processed and what consent or other legal basis is required.
- Apple’s policy choices: A warning that regulators might prompt a withdrawal is Apple’s characterization of a possible consequence, not proof of a formal order or a completed policy change.
What could a withdrawal mean for users?
The effects would depend on what Apple actually changed. If it removed the current ATT prompt or permission mechanism, users might no longer see the same standard Apple cross-app tracking request, and apps could potentially seek or use tracking-related data under a different system. That scenario would not automatically make all tracking lawful. European data-protection and ePrivacy requirements, national rules, app-store policies and consent obligations could still apply. Apple could also replace ATT with another mechanism rather than simply permit unrestricted tracking. These are possible outcomes, not confirmed plans.
For people who prefer not to allow covered tracking, the present iPhone controls remain useful: they let users review an app’s request and change permissions. Other app-level privacy settings and disclosures may also remain relevant even if Apple changes ATT. A change to one system prompt would not, on its own, settle what data a service collects or how it uses that data.
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What a change could mean for developers and advertisers
For advertising-funded developers, less restrictive access to cross-company attribution or audience measurement could make campaign performance easier to assess and user-acquisition decisions more informed. Removing a separate system prompt might also reduce duplicated consent steps. Those potential gains would come with legal and commercial trade-offs:
- Developers could bear more responsibility for securing valid consent, documenting lawful processing and managing compliance under European rules.
- Users may be less willing to trust apps if a change is perceived as a return to opaque tracking.
- A Europe-specific replacement could increase platform fragmentation and require separate implementation work.
- Advertisers would still face other constraints, including consent-management requirements, platform policies and privacy controls in browsers and services.
Apple identifies AdAttributionKit as a privacy-preserving option for measuring in-app and web advertising campaigns. It is an attribution approach, not an equivalent to unrestricted cross-app tracking or a guarantee of the same person-level targeting and measurement. Apple’s developer privacy guidance describes AdAttributionKit and ATT-related requirements.
How to manage tracking permissions on an iPhone
Apple’s documented path for current iPhone software is:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Privacy & Security, then Tracking.
- Review the apps listed as having requested permission, and turn individual permissions on or off.
- To prevent future requests, turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track.
With the master control off, apps are treated as though the user selected Ask App Not to Track, and the prompts are suppressed. The control may be unavailable on child accounts, managed devices or accounts controlled by an institution, among other restrictions described by Apple. Apple’s iPhone guide and ATT support page provide the relevant details.
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