Apple has to change its tracking prompt across almost the whole EU

Apple will rework its consent procedure for App Tracking Transparency. It follows a decision by the German competition authority, which found that the applications made by Apple itself received more favourable prompts than the applications of outside developers.

The company has four months to put neutral wording and design changes in place across almost every country of the European Union. The commitments it has entered into run for seven years.

The short version

• Apple has to make the prompt for tracking user behaviour neutral in almost all EU countries, with a deadline of four months.
• The commitments given to the German authority run for seven years and therefore cover several generations of devices.
• The share is up around 23 percent in 2026, while Amazon gained only about four percent over the same period.

What the prompt is about

For several years now every application on the iPhone has had to ask the user for permission before it may track their behaviour across other applications and websites. That prompt decides how much data is available for targeted advertising.

The complaint was that Apple designed this prompt differently for its own applications than for outside ones. How such a question is worded and laid out has a large effect on the rate of consent. A difference of a few percentage points means a considerable difference in the volume of data across hundreds of millions of devices.

Meta is among those who gain

The decision therefore matters beyond Apple. For companies whose revenue depends on advertising, easier consent improves access to the data used for targeted ads.

Meta Platforms is among the groups most affected by this. The company described the original introduction of the prompt in 2021 as a serious intrusion into its business model.

Whether consent rates actually change will only become clear after the rollout. Four months is a tight window for a change that has to reach almost every EU country at the same time.

Apple counts as the safe haven this year

The share has done better in 2026 than several other large technology stocks. It is up around 23 percent since the start of the year, while Amazon gained only about four percent over the same period.

The reason is an observation that came up repeatedly during this reporting season. Investors increasingly distinguish between technology groups that put very large sums into data centres and those that do not. Apple has not expanded its investment in a comparable way and is therefore seen as the safe haven within the sector.

How far the valuations have drifted apart showed at the end of July. In a single trading day Meta lost eight percent while Microsoft gained 15 percent. Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft together added almost 1.5 trillion dollars in market value that week.

Apple belongs, together with Nvidia, Alphabet and Microsoft, to the four companies valued above three trillion dollars.

Regulation stays a running theme

For Apple the decision from Bonn is part of a longer series. The company faces several proceedings in Europe concerning its operating system, its application store and its payment services.

The economic effect of any single obligation is usually limited. The sum of them matters more. Every commitment narrows how tightly Apple can tie hardware, software and services together, and that tie is the core of the business model.

The seven year term is the most striking part of the decision in this context. It fixes the design of a central control element for a period that spans several generations of devices.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly does Apple have to change

Apple has to word the consent prompt for tracking user behaviour neutrally and adjust its design so that outside applications do not receive a less favourable prompt than its own. The change applies in almost every country of the European Union and the deadline is four months.

Why does this prompt matter so much for the advertising market

It decides how much data about user behaviour is available for targeted ads. Wording and layout have a large effect on the consent rate, and across hundreds of millions of devices a few percentage points add up to a large amount of data.

Why is the share doing better than other technology stocks

Investors currently distinguish between groups with very high spending on data centres and those without. Apple has not expanded its investment in a comparable way and is therefore treated as the safe haven. It is up around 23 percent since the start of the year.

This analysis is for information only and is not investment advice.