Poland makes Apple drop "tracking" from its app consent prompts

Poland makes Apple drop "tracking" from its app consent prompts

20 October 2026: Poland's competition authority, UOKiK, has made Apple commit to showing a neutral consent prompt, with the same look, layout and wording, in its own apps and in other publishers' apps for users in Poland, and to stop using the word "tracking". Apple must also appoint an independent liaison officer to take app developers' complaints about its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, in Polish or English.

Not yet independently verified. We have read Decision DOK-7/2026 of 19 October 2026: Apple must carry out the commitments within two months of it becoming final. UOKiK has not said when that will be, and Apple has made no statement of its own. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

What UOKiK found wrong with ATT

UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny opened proceedings because Apple, besides writing the rules every iOS developer must follow, publishes apps and sells mobile advertising itself, so it competes with the developers it regulates. ATT defined "tracking" as combining a user's data from apps of different companies to show personalised ads, and required an extra consent prompt for it. Combining data collected by a single company, Apple included, did not count. The result, UOKiK says, was that third-party apps asked users to allow "tracking" while Apple asked about "personalised ads", in windows with different designs and button wording, although the data could be used for the same purpose in both cases.

That difference, the authority says, could discourage users from sharing data with independent publishers, favour companies that run advertising on their own data, Apple in particular, and cut publishers' revenue from in-app advertising.

The commitments Apple has accepted

The case ended in a commitments decision, numbered DOK-7/2026, addressed to Apple and two of its Irish subsidiaries, Apple Distribution International and Apple Operations International. UOKiK's release mentions no fine. The new rules apply to people whose Apple account uses a Polish billing address and whose device reports Poland as its location. Under the decision:

• consent prompts in Apple's apps and in third-party apps get a neutral appearance, layout and text, with graphics and phrases that could steer the choice removed;
• publishers may add a link to a web page, or an extra screen, with fuller information on how they process personal data, and Apple may not interfere with its content;
• Apple must tell publishers about the commitments and the policy changes, including in the terms on its websites and in developer documentation;
• an independent liaison officer will receive comments, questions and complaints from developers and pass them to a separate independent monitoring trustee, who rules on complaints about ATT.

Apple has two months from the day the decision becomes final to make the changes, must send UOKiK documents showing it has done so, and has to report every year.

Part of a wider European push

Chróstny said the decision followed "intensive, many-month cooperation with the European Commission", which wanted the same changes to ATT in the other EU member states. UOKiK lists earlier action on ATT by the French authority in March 2025, the Italian one in December 2025 and the German one, which accepted commitments, in August 2026, and says it is also running proceedings against Google and Meta. For Polish app makers, the practical change is a prompt that no longer frames their ad measurement as "tracking", and a named route for disputes outside Apple's own review process.

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Sources

• UOKiK: Apple zmienia praktyki po interwencji Prezesa UOKiK (decision DOK-7/2026), 20 October 2026
• UOKiK: Decision DOK-7/2026 (PDF), 19 October 2026