Skill: ATT Framework Audit

<!-- SEO: ATTrackingManager AppTrackingTransparency IDFA Firebase analytics tracking consent NSUserTrackingUsageDescription Guideline 5.1.2 iOS rejection -->

Purpose

Detects analytics or tracking SDKs present without the required App Tracking Transparency prompt, enforcing Guideline 5.1.2(i) which requires user consent before any cross-app or cross-site tracking.

Apple Guideline

• Primary: 5.1.2(i) — Privacy: Data Use and Sharing — Tracking
• Related: 5.1.1(ii)
• Reference: references/guidelines/5-legal.md

Real-World Rejection Cases

• Case: App using Firebase Analytics without ATT prompt — rejected for tracking without consent Source: Apple Developer Forums Root cause: Any cross-app/cross-site tracking requires ATTrackingManager.requestTrackingAuthorization before data collection — Firebase Analytics links events to a device-level identifier that crosses app boundaries when user has not consented

• Case: After an app update, users reported the ATT permission dialog appeared on every launch — caused by prior binary's tracking metadata conflicting with the updated app build — Apple rejected the update after tester reproduction Source: Apple Developer Forums thread/679585 Root cause: ATTrackingManager authorization state can become inconsistent when the prior production binary's metadata conflicts with the current build; always test ATT prompt behavior both on fresh install and on update from the live App Store binary before submission

Trigger

Invoke on any iOS/macOS project that integrates analytics, attribution, or advertising SDKs to verify ATT consent flow is present.

Inputs

Name	Type	Default	Description
project_root	path	cwd	iOS/macOS project root
shared_context	object	nil	Pre-collected context from appstore-full-audit Phase 1

Actions

Phase 1: Context Collection

Skip this phase if shared_context is provided.

1. Glob **/*.swift — collect all Swift source files.
2. Glob **/Podfile or **/Package.swift or **/Package.resolved — locate dependency manifests for SDK detection.
3. Glob **/Info.plist — locate Info.plist for NSUserTrackingUsageDescription check.

Phase 2: Checks

1. Analytics/tracking SDK detection Grep pattern Firebase|Amplitude|Mixpanel|Segment|Branch|AppsFlyer|Adjust|Kochava|MoEngage|CleverTap|Crashlytics in **/*.swift and dependency manifest files. If any SDK found, proceed to checks 2–4 for ATT compliance.

2. ATT framework import absent Grep pattern ATTrackingManager|AppTrackingTransparency in **/*.swift. If absent while a tracking SDK is detected → 🔴 CRITICAL. ATT framework must be imported and the authorization request must be called.

3. requestTrackingAuthorization call Grep pattern requestTrackingAuthorization in **/*.swift. If absent while a tracking SDK is detected → 🔴 CRITICAL. The tracking authorization dialog must be displayed before any data collection.

4. NSUserTrackingUsageDescription in Info.plist Read Info.plist — check for NSUserTrackingUsageDescription key. If absent while a tracking SDK is detected → 🔴 CRITICAL. The purpose string is required in Info.plist for the ATT prompt to function. If present, verify value length > 20 characters — a generic description will not satisfy reviewers → 🟠 HIGH if ≤ 20 chars.

Phase 3: Output

Collect all findings from Phase 2 and build the prioritised findings list below. Include file paths and line numbers. Omit tiers with no findings.

Output Format

## ATT Framework Audit — Findings

### 🔴 CRITICAL — Guaranteed rejection
- [ ] TODO: Import AppTrackingTransparency and call ATTrackingManager.requestTrackingAuthorization — Firebase Analytics detected without ATT consent flow — Guideline 5.1.2(i)
- [ ] TODO: Add NSUserTrackingUsageDescription to Info.plist — tracking SDK present but purpose string missing — Guideline 5.1.2(i)

### 🟠 HIGH — Very likely rejection
- [ ] TODO: Expand NSUserTrackingUsageDescription to clearly explain what data is tracked and why — current value is too short/generic — Guideline 5.1.2(i)

### 🟡 MEDIUM — Possible rejection
- [ ] TODO: Verify requestTrackingAuthorization is called before any analytics events are sent — check initialization order in AppDelegate

### 🟢 LOW — Best practice
- [ ] TODO: Implement a pre-ATT custom prompt explaining the value of allowing tracking before presenting the system dialog — improves opt-in rate without violating policy

Tools Used

Glob, Grep, Read

Constraints

• Read-only. No file edits.
• No network calls.
• Skip Phase 1 if shared_context is provided by orchestrating agent.
• Works on Swift, Objective-C, React Native, Flutter projects.

Quick Commands

Run these in your project root to check manually:

# Check for ATT framework usage
!grep -rn "ATTrackingManager\|AppTrackingTransparency\|requestTrackingAuthorization" . --include="*.swift"

# Check for analytics SDKs (require ATT)
!grep -rn "Firebase\|Amplitude\|Mixpanel\|Segment\|Branch\|AppsFlyer\|Adjust" . --include="*.swift" | head -10

# Check NSUserTrackingUsageDescription
!find . -name "Info.plist" -not -path "*/Pods/*" | head -1 | xargs plutil -convert json -o - | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print('NSUserTrackingUsageDescription:', d.get('NSUserTrackingUsageDescription','MISSING'))"

Swift Anti-Pattern Reference

examples/swift/PrivacyPatterns.swift

Detection Steps

1. Find target files

   • Glob: **/*.swift, **/*.m, **/project.pbxproj, **/Info.plist

2. Search for rejection patterns

   • Grep IDFA\|advertisingIdentifier\|ASIdentifierManager in Swift/ObjC — tracking identifier usage
   • Grep ATTrackingManager\|requestTrackingAuthorization — ATT implementation
   • Grep AppTrackingTransparency in project.pbxproj — framework linked
   • Read Info.plist → check NSUserTrackingUsageDescription key exists and is non-empty

3. Determine verdict

   • IDFA or advertisingIdentifier used + no ATTrackingManager → 🔴 CRITICAL (Guideline 5.1.2(i))
   • ATTrackingManager present + NSUserTrackingUsageDescription missing from Info.plist → 🔴 CRITICAL
   • Framework linked, description present, authorization requested before access → 🟢 pass

4. Report

   • File path + line number of IDFA access without ATT gate
   • Fix: Call ATTrackingManager.requestTrackingAuthorization before accessing IDFA; add NSUserTrackingUsageDescription to Info.plist