If you thought the release of the latest iPhone software, iOS 17.4, meant that things could get back to normal in the world of iPhone, think again. Apple just announced new details of how the iPhone is changing. In response to the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, an Apple rule change updates how app marketplaces will work on the iPhone. These changes are for EU residents now, but governments around the world will be looking closely to see if they should adopt similar legislation. Watch this space.
March 15 update below. This post was first published on March 12, 2024.
Previously, Apple had said that if you were an app marketplace operator, you needed to allow submissions from other developers. Today’s change means that marketplaces can choose to offer apps from one developer only.
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Apple says, “We’re providing more flexibility for developers who distribute apps in the European Union (EU), including introducing a new way to distribute apps directly from a developer’s website.”
Providing the developer has agreed to the Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps, they have new options for their apps.
First, they can plump for alternative app marketplaces. “Marketplaces can choose to offer a catalog of apps solely from the developer of the marketplace.”
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Or they can link out to purchase. This means, “When directing users to complete a transaction for digital goods or services on an external webpage, developers can choose how to design promotions, discounts, and other deals. The Apple-provided design templates, which are optimized for key purchase and promotional use cases, are now optional.”
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That’s a huge difference, offering developers much more freedom in how they transact for digital goods.
Then, in a matter of weeks, comes the biggest change of all. Apple describes it like this: “Web Distribution, available with a software update later this spring, will let authorized developers distribute their iOS apps to EU users directly from a website owned by the developer. Apple will provide authorized developers access to APIs that facilitate the distribution of their apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, back up and restore users’ apps, and more.”
It's hard to take on board just what a big change this is. Until now, you could download progressive web apps, but proper apps had to come from one place only, the App Store.
With this change, when it comes, EU users will be able to go to a website and click a download link. Things are moving fast for the iPhone.
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March 13 update. Proof, if proof were needed, that the latest changes to the iPhone because of the DMA are having an immediate effect, came today from a browser company.
Brave, which describes itself as “the browser that puts you first,” says there’s been a steep increase in installations on the iPhone since the iOS 17.4 update went live. In a post on X, Brave said, “Why did Apple and Google make it hard to switch default browsers for so many years? Because it's a powerful way to block competitors. Just look at what happened to Brave installs on iPhone in the EU when Apple rolled out a new default browser choice screen on March 6th.”
It also published a graph showing that daily installs, which were around 7,000 to 8,000 in late January shot up to 11,000 as soon as iOS 17.4 was released.
That’s because one of the elements added by Apple to comply with the legislation is a new splash screen shown to users when they first open Safari after installing the update. Apple provides, for the first time, a list of the most downloaded browsers, in a random order, for users to choose between.
And, as you know, these requirements are EU-specific, for now, but other countries could implement similar changes in the future.
March 15 update. The success of the DMA, as far as browser companies are concerned, continues to make headlines. A Firefox spokesperson talking to The Verge has said that it has seen a jump in users in Germany of more than 50%, and a nearly 30% increase in France. This is a very big uptick.
The interesting thing is that Firefox has been available as an app for a long time in iOS, so the suggestion is that the new splash screen which encourages you to choose a browser instead of simply using Safari, is really having an effect. Since it was already available as a freely downloadable app, it isn’t yet clear to me whether this is actually an indication of increased competition or merely increased visibility for Firefox, Brave and the like. Either way, it means more people are trying new browsers, perhaps for the first time, and that’s part of what the DMA is about.
Firefox’s Christopher Hilton told The Verge, “Despite less than ideal compliance, the recent implementation of the DMA choice screen is a promising step toward true competition online in the EU... Still, there is a lot of room for improvement, and we’ll continue to fight for a web that puts people over profits, prioritizes privacy and is open and accessible to all.”
Brave is still based on WebKit, as all browsers on the iPhone outside the EU are, but the company told The Register it is “looking into the possibility of developing a Chromium-based version of Brave for iOS now that Apple has opened the door – at least on paper – to non-WebKit browsers on iOS in Europe. Brendan Eich, CEO and Co-Founder at Brave had an additional comment, though: “If Apple forbids using this alternative engine outside of Europe, however, the cost of supporting two engines may be prohibitive.”
I think Apple will forbid this in any territory except where it’s forced to change the rules, so it may be that Brave stays based on WebKit for the foreseeable future.
Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of another browser company, Vivaldi, has said that it has also seen an increase, “but we haven’t see a massive change.” Not least, he blames this on the choice screen that appear on the iPhone for European users. “We are seeing a choice screen that is problematic in very many ways. And one of the ways that is problematic, for example for us, is that we are in eight countries out of 26 and they're excluding countries like Norway and Iceland, which are kind of part of the extended European kind of area.”
He's right that the European Economic Area countries which are not part of the EU do not have the access the EU countries do. I am told this will only change of those countries adopt the DMA themselves.
