What is App Tracking Transparency?
App Tracking Transparency, usually shortened to ATT, is an Apple framework that requires an app to ask the user for permission before tracking them across other companies' apps and websites, or before accessing the device's advertising identifier. When the app makes the request, iOS shows a standard system prompt, and the user can allow or deny it. If the user denies, the app must not track them.
How App Tracking Transparency works
To request permission, an app calls the AppTrackingTransparency framework, which presents the system prompt. The prompt includes a short explanation that you provide through the NSUserTrackingUsageDescription key in Info.plist. The user's choice is recorded as an authorization status the app can read. If permission is granted, the app can access the IDFA, the identifier for advertisers, and link data for advertising. If it is denied, the IDFA reads back as zeros and tracking must not happen by other means either.
What counts as tracking
Apple defines tracking specifically: it is linking data collected in your app with data gathered from other companies' apps, websites, or offline sources, generally for targeted advertising or for sharing with data brokers. Showing ads is not by itself tracking, and analytics you keep internal and do not combine with third-party data is generally outside the definition. The distinction matters, because it determines whether you are required to show the prompt at all.
ATT, the App Store, and how AppFlight fits
Apple has required ATT since iOS 14.5, and App Store review can reject an app that tracks users without requesting permission, or whose purpose string is misleading. ATT is the consent step; the App Privacy nutrition label is the separate disclosure step on the product page. AppFlight builds native Swift and SwiftUI projects and can wire analytics integrations like PostHog, and when an app needs to request tracking permission, the ATT prompt and its Info.plist purpose string are part of configuring the app correctly for review.
FAQ
What counts as tracking under ATT?
Tracking means linking data collected in your app with data from other companies apps, websites, or offline sources for advertising or sharing with data brokers. Using the device advertising identifier also requires permission. Analytics you keep to yourself and do not link to third-party data is generally not tracking.
Is the ATT prompt required?
If your app tracks users in the sense Apple defines, you must request permission through ATT before doing so. Apple has required this since iOS 14.5, and apps that track without the prompt can be rejected in App Store review.
What is the IDFA?
The IDFA, or identifier for advertisers, is a per-device identifier used to measure and target ads. Since ATT, an app can only access a usable IDFA after the user grants tracking permission, otherwise it reads back as zeros.