[zelon88]

I believe it is you who has a misunderstanding. Let's word this differently.

Apple gives apps the ability to track and users the option to disable that feature, but they built it with dark patterns.

Now they've removed the dark patterns, but you can still have this awful feature that nobody wants. Why?

And why is Apple getting credit for removing dark patterns that they created earlier? Why does this feature exist if 99.999% of people don't want it in the first place?

[Fezzik]

You seem to be implying that when Apple opened their App Store, just 13 years ago in 2008, that it was an intentional decision to allow “dark patterns,” but this really does not seem to be born out by Apple’s practices. After releasing a gigantic/global app store in 2008 Apple has done nothing but reduce and limit the ability of third parties to track iOS users, amongst other actions that are purely protective of users. Furthermore, I see some beneficence in their actions, in that it’s not like there is a huge public uproar directed at Apple compelling them to make these changes (though my hunch is it’s more about cutting away at FB and Google profits than anything else).

[Nextgrid]

It wasn't a dark pattern per-se. They assumed good faith and relied on morals and compliance with the law to be sufficient.

Keep in mind that when the GDPR went in effect (and maybe before that with the "cookie law", as the advertising ID is equivalent to a tracking cookie), using the system-wide advertising ID (which is enabled by default - the dark pattern you were talking about) would be in breach of the regulation; apps should still ask for consent before using it and allow users to decline.

I can't fully fault Apple for expecting that the GDPR would actually be enforced and clean things up. It clearly wasn't the case however and they're thankfully making changes to mitigate that.