Apple is giving app marketers a new consent sheet to optimize—and in five EU markets it will be the only one available. With iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, apps distributed in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Romania must use an alternative version of the App Tracking Transparency prompt. Developers elsewhere in the EU can adopt it voluntarily.
The change, announced to developers on September 16, 2026, sits inside a broader EU competition settlement. Apple says it comes ‘as part of agreements with select European competition authorities,’ without naming them. For performance marketers, the practical question is simpler: will a redesigned prompt move opt-in rates?
What’s changing in the consent flow
The new sheet changes the vocabulary. The sample Apple published asks for permission to ‘link your app activity’ with data from other companies’ apps, websites or offline data, rather than using the word ‘track’. Buttons become Allow and Reject, and an Additional Information button can open a developer-controlled screen for extra context or granular consent controls.
- The EU Settings toggle is renamed ‘Allow Apps to Request to Link Your Activity Across Companies.’
- Developers can use Markdown in the purpose string via NSUserTrackingMarkdownUsageDescription, including bold, italics and bullet lists.
- Apps in the EU may ask again after 12 months, even if the previous answer was no, unless the user has disabled the request settings.
- After a user taps Additional Information and returns, the framework logs notDetermined before a choice is recorded.
Why a consent redesign matters
Consent rates remain the bottleneck for targeting and measurement. Adjust’s Mobile App Trends 2026 report puts the industry average ATT opt-in at 38% in Q1 2026, up from 35% a year earlier. Gaming leads at 39%, publications reached 26%, and e-commerce slipped to 34%. That still leaves most users saying no.
Apple’s year-long re-ask rule changes the trajectory. A refusal in the EU is no longer a permanent loss: after 12 months, apps can prompt again. The catch is that users who switch off the settings toggle cannot be asked at all.
What to do before iOS 27.2 ships
Treat this as a consent conversion project, not just a compliance update. Apple’s guidance recommends keeping the purpose string short and specific, because the system already displays the app name. Use the Additional Information button to surface granular choices required by GDPR or ePrivacy, and do not show the ATT sheet to users who declined all relevant legal choices in a separate consent management platform.
Measurement teams should also watch the notDetermined detour. If your reporting assumes a single authorized or denied event, users who open the extra screen and return will look like abandoned requests.
The bigger picture is regulatory. Germany’s Bundeskartellamt closed its proceeding on August 17, 2026 without a fine after Apple offered commitments. France fined Apple 150 million euros in March 2025, Italy imposed 98,635,416.67 euros in December 2025, and cases in Poland and Romania were still running. Apple’s prompt change arrives alongside its status as a designated gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act.
The alternative ATT sheet belongs to the iOS 27 point-release cycle, so early testing in the five affected markets is the clearest way to see whether the new language lifts opt-ins before the feature reaches everyone.
Source: PPC Land
