The European Union’s Digital Markets Act has had a huge impact on Apple, a company that has become synonymous with a “walled garden” approach to interoperability. The company recently released a “Non-Confidential Summary of DMA Compliance Report” (is there a confidential version?) that summarizes how Apple has changed to comply with the new regulations.
Most are things we already know. With iOS 17.4, EU customers get their choice of browsers, can install apps outside of the App Store, can use the NFC chip for wireless payment systems other than Apple Pay, and more Again.
But there are a few little details we hadn’t heard about before. The first is the ability to completely delete Safari. As the document states:
Apple also plans to allow users to completely remove Safari from iOS if they want. Apple aims to make this option available by the end of 2024.
Perhaps more interesting is the work Apple is apparently doing to ease the transition to an Android phone.
Apple is developing a solution that helps mobile operating system vendors develop more user-friendly solutions for transferring data from an iPhone to a non-Apple phone. Apple aims to make this solution available by fall 2025.
It’s a long way off: a fall 2025 calendar means this solution will likely be available as part of iOS 19! But it’s interesting to see Apple working on a much more comprehensive solution than its current Switch to Android app, which critics say doesn’t sufficiently move your comparable data and settings.
Finally, Apple is working on an easier way to switch browsers. You can already choose a default browser, and EU customers are presented with a “browser vote” menu when they first launch the browser after the iOS 17.4 update, but it doesn’t exist no easy way to move all your bookmarks, form autofill data, passwords. , cookies and other things between browsers.
Apple is also creating a browser switching solution to export and import relevant browser data to another browser on the same device. Apple aims to make this solution available by late 2024/early 2025.
This delay seems to suggest that it will be part of an update to iOS 18, an “iOS 18.4” if you will.
The document aims to demonstrate compliance with the Digital Markets Act and does not detail which features will be available only in the EU and which could be rolled out globally. It also doesn’t go into the specific details of how everything is implemented or the policies behind them, which have recently come under increased scrutiny. It’s still possible that EU regulators will find that some of Apple’s efforts don’t work in a way that makes them compliant with the Digital Markets Act, leading to further changes in how Apple has implemented these features.
