Starting with iOS and iPadOS 27.2, Apple is introducing an alternative version of its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt for apps distributed in the EU, following a settlement with Germany’s Federal Cartel Office that closed a years-long antitrust investigation into whether ATT unfairly disadvantaged third-party apps against Apple’s own services. The alternative prompt uses different formatting and language, and adds an optional “Additional Information” button letting apps explain in more detail what tracking or cross-company data linking they’re asking permission for.
The rollout isn’t uniform. In Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Romania, the alternative prompt is now the only version available — not a developer choice. Elsewhere in the EU it’s optional for now. Apple has also confirmed that EU users can be re-prompted for tracking consent one year after their previous choice, regardless of whether they accepted or declined the first time, which means opt-in rates that felt settled could shift again on a rolling annual basis.
Why this matters beyond the five countries
Any app with an EU user base that relies on cross-app or cross-company tracking for ads, attribution, or personalisation needs its consent flow re-checked against this update before iOS 27.2 ships widely, not after. The mandatory five-country list is also a signal of direction of travel: regulatory pressure on Apple’s tracking framework in the EU is trending toward more disclosure and more re-consent, not less, and other jurisdictions have a track record of following where EU app-platform rulings land.
So what
If your app collects any tracking-adjacent data and has EU users, treat this as a scheduled check against your next release, not an edge case — a consent screen built against the old single prompt risks non-compliance or a jarring experience for a meaningful slice of your user base. This is exactly the kind of platform-policy detail that gets missed when app maintenance isn’t actively managed. See our platform & API work or get in touch if your app needs an EU compliance check ahead of iOS 27.2.