Germany's Federal Cartel Office has ordered Apple to overhaul the consent screens that govern how iPhone and iPad users share data with third-party apps, saying the current design steers people toward rejecting tracking while nudging them to accept personalized ads from Apple's own services.

The gatekeeper problem

The Bundeskartellamt's preliminary assessment targets a disparity built into iOS. The App Tracking Transparency prompt, which third-party developers must show, uses a warning hand icon and the phrase "app tracking", language the regulator says pushes users to refuse. Apple's own Personalized Ads prompt, by contrast, uses softer wording and a layout that encourages consent. Both screens appear on the same devices, but only one carries the visual weight of a caution sign.

The revenue context

When ATT launched with iOS 14.5, the opt-in requirement for cross-app tracking wiped nearly $10 billion from social media advertising revenue, according to industry estimates. The feature turned a default-on ecosystem into an opt-in one almost overnight. Apple has argued the change protects privacy; competitors have argued it entrenches Apple's own ad business, which sits outside the same friction.

Four months to comply

Apple now has four months to bring the third-party prompt into visual and linguistic parity with its own. The remedy would strip out the warning symbol, neutralize the wording, and give developers equal space to explain why data collection might benefit the user. Developers would also gain the ability to combine Apple's mandatory prompt with their own consent flows, reducing the number of interruptions a user sees.

What the DMA changes

The case moves forward because Apple carries a "gatekeeper" designation under the EU's Digital Markets Act. That status subjects its operating system rules to a higher standard of non-discrimination. The German authority is effectively testing whether a privacy feature can also function as a competitive moat, and whether a regulator can force a platform to make its own rules apply symmetrically.