Apple on Wednesday informed developers that it has extended the deadline by which apps submitted to the various App Stores will required to use App Transport Security (ATS), a standard introduced in iOS 9 and OS X 10.11.
According to Apple Developer, ATS, first introduced in iOS 9 and OS X v10.11, will now not become mandatory for apps to support by the 1 January 2017. Instead, Apple has decided to give developers "additional time to prepare" for the switch and so has extended the original deadline.
Currently, ATS is enabled by default but app developers do have the option of disabling the feature. Apple has not announced an expected timeline for ATS integration, saying only that developers will be updated when a new deadline is confirmed.