A judge in Paris has decided not to suspend Apple's App Tracking Transparency privacy feature in France .
In a statement shared with French newspaper La Tribune, Apple said it was pleased with the court's decision and would continue to support strong privacy protections for users.
Previous fine for App Tracking Transparency feature
Last year, Apple was fined €150 million by France's competition authority after it was found that the company's decision to implement App Tracking Transparency was an abuse of its market dominance. Specifically, the authority said that the feature was unfair to both app developers and advertisers.
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Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature lets iPhone and iPad users decide whether to allow apps to track their activity across other apps and websites for advertising purposes. Users can choose to allow apps to ask for permission or disable tracking entirely.
Anti-tracking features were implemented in Apple's iOS 14 updates. The feature prevents apps from accessing the advertising identifier of an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV without explicit permission. This access would allow apps to track what users do on their devices and then use the information for targeted advertising.
Naturally, App Tracking Transparency sparked backlash among advertisers and data brokers. Facebook reacted strongly before its launch, portraying Apple as an enemy of small businesses and running multiple full-page ads in newspapers.
See also: Apple: Fined $150,000 for breach of agreement
Removal from Europe?
Last year, Apple warned that it might be forced to stop offering App Tracking Transparency in the EU due to regulatory pressure in countries like France, Italy, Germany, and Poland, as well as from the overarching European Commission. However, it appears that the feature will continue to exist in France (at least for now).
Germany launched an investigation into App Tracking Transparency in 2022, and in February 2025, Germany preliminarily ruled that Apple abused its buying power with the feature, giving itself preferential treatment. Apple, for its part, states that it does not collect data from third-party apps.
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Apple has said it has presented solutions to regulators in Europe, but is facing pressure that could lead to the App Tracking Transparency feature being undermined. Apple also said it will work to keep the feature available to Europeans.
