Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will change how consent requests for personalized advertising are presented on iPhones and iPads after Germany’s competition regulator raised concerns that the company’s rules treated its own services differently from third-party apps.
The Bundeskartellamt said Apple offered commitments that have now been made legally binding, bringing the proceeding to a close.
Apple maintains that its existing rules comply with competition law, but agreed to modify its approach following the regulator’s objections.
German Regulator Raised Concerns Over Unequal Consent Rules
The case focused on differences between the way Apple sought user consent for its own services and the requirements imposed on third-party app developers.
The Bundeskartellamt argued that Apple, as a large digital platform, cannot design ecosystem rules that give its own offerings preferential treatment over competing services.
Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, said strong privacy protections are legitimate, but additional rules introduced by Apple must be applied fairly across the ecosystem.
“Apple will now align the consent requests much more closely and give third-party app providers more freedom to combine the necessary requests in a sensible way,” Mundt said.
Apple to Give Developers More Flexibility
Under the commitments, Apple is expected to make consent requests for its own services and third-party applications more comparable.
The changes should also provide developers with greater flexibility in how they combine and present required consent requests to users.
The regulator’s concern was not that Apple imposed strict privacy protections, but that those protections could disadvantage competing app providers if Apple’s own services were subject to different standards.
Case Highlights Growing Scrutiny of Apple’s App Ecosystem
The decision adds to broader regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s control over the iOS ecosystem in Europe.
Competition authorities have increasingly examined whether platform rules covering app distribution, payments, data access and advertising create advantages for services operated by the platform itself.
Germany’s special competition framework for major digital companies allows the Bundeskartellamt to intervene when it believes dominant platforms are using ecosystem rules in ways that disadvantage competitors.
With Apple’s commitments now binding, the German regulator said the proceeding has been formally concluded.
