Apple today announced three further changes for developers in the European Union, allowing them to distribute apps directly from websites, choose how to design in-app promotions and more.
Apple last week enabled alternative app stores in the EU in iOS 17.4, allowing third-party app stores to offer a catalog of apps from other developers as well as the developers’ own apps on the market. Starting today, Apple allows third-party app stores to offer apps exclusively from its own catalog. For example, a game studio could create an iOS app store that exclusively offers their games.
When guiding users to complete a transaction on their website, developers can now also choose how to design their in-app promotions, discounts and offers. Apple’s templates for designing these web links are optional as of today.
In addition, developers will soon be able to distribute apps directly from their websites, provided they meet Apple’s specific criteria, such as being a member of the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more and having an app with more than one million initial installs on iOS in EU in the previous year and commit to ongoing requirements, such as publishing transparent data collection policies. Apps distributed in this way must meet Apple’s notarization requirements like all other iOS apps and can only be installed from a web domain registered with App Store Connect.
Authorized developers will gain access to APIs to facilitate web application distribution, integration with system functions, backup and restore, and more. Web distribution will become available after a software update later this spring – allowing apps to be downloaded directly from the website for the first time on iOS.
The latest changes are part of Apple’s plan to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and apply only within the European Union.
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