It was reported yesterday that Apple has agreed to comply with “fairer” App Tracking Transparency rules in the EU, following an investigation by the German antitrust regulator.
Apple said it was complying voluntarily, and we understand it will be making a total of eight changes in order to do so …
Developers often collect far more personal data than is required for app functionality. One example is something Apple refers to as app tracking, where interests revealed by the apps you install are used to serve you with personalized ads, both within apps and on the web. App Tracking Transparency (ATT) lets you choose whether or not this data can be collected and used in this way.
Apple said yesterday that the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) acknowledged the value in offering users the choice; indeed, the FCO report said it welcomed ATT from a data protection perspective, as do other privacy regulators within the country.
The FCO’s objection appears to be that Apple’s existing prompt is making app tracking sound scarier than it really is. The iPhone maker will make eight changes in order to address this – including removal of the word “track.”
- Changing the color of the graphic element on top of the prompt from orange to blue
- Updating the ATT prompt to be a full page
- Removing the word “track” from the ATT prompt and Personalized Ads prompt
- Changing choice buttons of ATT from “Allow” and “Ask App Not to Track” to “Allow” and “Reject”
- Allowing formatting changes (e.g. bold, italics and bulleted lists) in the ATT prompt
- Adding an option for developers to surface an additional page of information directly from the prompt to provide further GDPR information. Developers can already do this today using prompts they can show before the ATT prompt.
- Allowing developers to re-prompt users with the ATT prompt one year after they make a decision, whether that choice was “yes” or “no”
- Minor adjustments to the Personalized Ads prompt language for clarity, but there is no change in the effect or meaning of this language
Apple told us that it was committed to ensuring that ATT remained available within EU countries, and that the initiative had been welcomed by privacy campaigners, data protection authorities, and iPhone users.
The company reiterated that the reason its own apps don’t show the ATT prompt is because it doesn’t use personal data collected from apps in order to deliver targeted apps or measure ad effectiveness. It stresses that it treats third-party apps in exactly the same way – if they don’t collect this data, then they don’t have to show the prompt.
9to5Mac’s Take
This does seem like the best outcome for all parties. iPhone users will continue to make the choice, but it will be based on a prompt which more accurately reflects the decision they are being asked to make – between personalized ads and not.
The investigation has also addressed suspicions about Apple’s own ad sales business. The company has categorically stated that it doesn’t use its own apps in order to collect data to deliver personalised ads, nor to measure ad effectiveness.
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