**Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Could Be Disabled in Parts of Europe Soon**
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT), one of the company’s flagship privacy features on iPhones, may soon be disabled in Germany and other European countries. If that happens, your iPhone might start feeling a little less private.
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### What is App Tracking Transparency?
Introduced in 2020 with iOS 14, App Tracking Transparency allows users to control whether apps can track their activity across the internet for advertising purposes. When an app wants to track you, a prompt appears asking for your permission. Most users opt to “ask app not to track,” thereby limiting advertisers from monitoring their activities across multiple apps and websites.
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### Regulatory Pressure Threatens ATT in Europe
Apple has warned that regulatory scrutiny and lobbying efforts from the advertising industry could force the company to disable ATT in certain European countries, including Germany and Italy. Apple sent a statement, seen by DPA International, indicating that lobbying efforts in these countries may compel it to withdraw the privacy feature—much to the detriment of European customers.
Apple says it will continue to urge authorities to allow the feature to remain available across Europe.
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### Why ATT Matters
ATT has been a hugely successful privacy-centered feature. It quickly gained popularity among iPhone users, many of whom enabled the setting to prevent apps from tracking their activities. The impact was significant — for example, Facebook (now Meta) reportedly lost $12.8 billion in revenue in a single year due to the feature, a loss the company clearly did not welcome.
Despite its success with users, advertising platforms and some tech companies argue that ATT represents anti-competitive behavior. As a result, competition authorities are investigating the feature.
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### The Legal Battle in Germany and Italy
In Germany, the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt or BKartA) has concluded that ATT could violate antitrust regulations. The authority notes that ATT applies to third-party apps but not to Apple’s own apps, raising concerns about a competitive imbalance. Apple, however, maintains that its own apps do not collect data from other providers.
Italy is conducting a similar investigation and is expected to rule on the issue by the end of the year.
Apple has communicated to regulators that it has potential solutions and criticized the complex proposals from regulators as attempts to undermine the functionality of ATT.
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### Personal Perspective: Why I’m a Fan of ATT
Since ATT was introduced, I have enabled it for every app on my iPhone that supports it. I find it unsettling that companies could track my online activity to serve targeted ads; to me, that feels like a serious invasion of privacy.
Of course, I don’t mind ads altogether—they have helped me discover interesting products and services—but not at the cost of my privacy. I hope Apple can resolve the regulatory challenges so that ATT remains available in Europe. Without it, many users like myself would be understandably upset.
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### What Do You Think?
How would you feel if Apple had to turn off this iPhone privacy feature in Europe?
– Honestly, I’d be furious
– Pretty disappointed
– Meh, I don’t care about this feature
*Vote and share your thoughts below!*
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### Recommended Stories
– *Italy Investigates Apple’s App Tracking Transparency*
– *FCC Approves Cingular’s Purchase of AT&T Wireless*
Stay tuned for more updates on Apple, privacy, and tech industry news.
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https://www.phonearena.com/news/europe-might-force-apple-to-kill-this-iphone-privacy-feature-and-you-wont-be-happy-about-this_id175168
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