Apple blocking publishing because of the webviewer doesn't have AppTrackingTransparency framework

[Heikkiss]

Dear Thunkable Team,

I have challenges getting my app published on the App Store because I utilize a webviewer and the page I'm displaying uses cookies (and a GDPR style prompt for them) -- and the app doesn't have the AppTrackingTransparency framework implemented. See the response from Apple below:

_Guideline 5.1.2 - Legal - Privacy - Data Use and Sharing

We noticed your app accesses web content you own where you collect cookies. However, you do not use App Tracking Transparency to request the user's permission before collecting data used to track.

Collecting cookies is a form of tracking. Starting with iOS 14.5, apps on the App Store need to receive the user’s permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework before collecting data used to track them.

Next Steps

Follow these steps to resolve this issue:

1. If you haven't already, update your app privacy information in App Store Connect to disclose that you track users. You must have the Account Holder or Admin role to update app privacy information.
2. Implement App Tracking Transparency.
3. Request permission using App Tracking Transparency before collecting data used to track the user. When you resubmit, indicate in the Review Notes where the permission request is located.
4. If the user does not allow tracking, do not collect cookies for tracking purposes.

You may also choose to remove the tracking functionality from your app, including tracking that occurs when accessing web content.

Resources

• Tracking is linking data collected from your app with third-party data for advertising purposes, or sharing the collected data with a data broker. Learn more about tracking.
• See Frequently Asked Questions about the new requirements for apps that track users.
• Learn more about designing appropriate permission requests.

Guideline 5.1.2 - Legal - Privacy - Data Use and Sharing

We noticed your app includes a GDPR prompt, informing the user that your app tracks. However, you do not use App Tracking Transparency to request the user's permission before collecting data used to track.

Starting with iOS 14.5, apps on the App Store need to receive the user’s permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework before collecting data used to track them.

Next Steps

Follow these steps to resolve this issue:

1. If you haven't already, update your app privacy information in App Store Connect to disclose that you track users. You must have the Account Holder or Admin role to update app privacy information.
2. Implement App Tracking Transparency.
3. Request permission using App Tracking Transparency before collecting data used to track the user. When you resubmit, indicate in the Review Notes where the permission request is located.

You may also choose to remove the tracking functionality from your app.

Resources

• Tracking is linking data collected from your app with third-party data for advertising purposes, or sharing the collected data with a data broker. Learn more about tracking.
• See Frequently Asked Questions about the new requirements for apps that track users.
• Learn more about designing appropriate permission requests.

Please see attached screenshot for details._

Would be nice if you could help to implement this framework into Thunkable, otherwise it will become somewhat hard for people to publish for iOS with the webviewer.

Thank you!

[jane-d-alt]

Hi Heikkiss,

Thanks for sharing this message with us. I will ask a member of the dev team to follow up here when we have an update on this matter.

Thanks,
Jane

[Heikkiss]

Thank you! Not exactly sure how strict Apple is with this, but it seemed pretty tight even though I really wasn't tracking anything in the sense that I would be passing the user information to 3rd parties for their advertisements or other such tracking, so I wished I had had this option as part of my arsenal. Even having the GDPR prompt, for instance, was too much and I had to remove it. The fact that you can have all kinds of GDPR prompts -- some merely declaring that you use cookies, and some giving the user the option to opt-in/out of all kinds of far-reaching tracking -- didn't seem to matter much.

Of course a good question then is how you connect the user's choice with the website the web viewer is accessing. Naturally, you can send a message from the web viewer to the page, but it can be somewhat clumsy for many to set up. But at least if on the app side, you could do something based on this choice, let's say prevent the user from continuing with the web viewer if the prompt is denied or alternatively redirect the user to a new page. So, as a minimum, some kind of web viewer event depending on the user choice in this regard could help to do at least something that might satisify Apple.

[jaredgibb]

Hi @Heikkiss, it sounds like this issue has been resolved. Can you try publishing again?

[Heikkiss]

Hi, thanks for helping out with this. I could indeed publish now. But as mentioned on the forums, for the future, it would also be good to think of how to enable the tracking prompt if needed. But for now this works. :)