Apple just changed the App Store guidelines to respond to something called the European Commission’s anti-steering mandate. Here’s what changed.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro.
April 11 update below. This post was first published on April 8, 2024.
When the European Union fined Apple $2 billion in March for anti-competitive behavior against other music services, it was because Apple refused to allow music streaming apps to include links to websites where users can log in outside of the app. This was known as counter-management.
This meant that Spotify, for example, could not advertise that it was possible for users to sign up to its service on Spotify’s own website – something that was attractive to Spotify because it bypassed the requirement to pay a commission to Apple that would have been charged if the sign-up happened within apps (although signing in to the App Store was a feature Spotify removed some time ago).
Over the past few days, Apple has updated its App Store guidelines on Apple’s developer site to change the way apps work—for now, these changes and others introduced in the recent Digital Market Act only apply in the EU, but you can be sure that governments around the world are watching closely to see if they want to comply with the new rules.
It is notable that in the new guidelines, the second paragraph of the introduction refers to the EU, which is a sign of how transformative the changes are proving to be there.
The guidance now addresses this change: “Music streaming apps in certain regions may use rights for music streaming services to include a link (which may be in the form of a buy button) to the developer’s website that informs users of other ways to purchase digital music content or services.”
It’s not quite the same as signing up for an app, which would entail a commission charged by Apple. Rather, “These authorizations also permit developers of music streaming applications to invite users to provide their email address for the express purpose of sending a link to the developer’s website to purchase digital music content or services.”
There’s another change, as pointed out by 9to5Mac, and it’s being implemented worldwide. As the report states, “For the first time, Apple is allowing developers to create and distribute game emulators on the App Store. The news was confirmed by Apple in an email to developers.”
This is a very big change. Game developers have been trying to bring game emulators to iOS users for a long time. The report continues: “App Store guidelines have never allowed emulator software, but some apps have gotten lucky bypassing Apple’s review process by disguising their apps and hiding emulators inside them. But that is now changing with the new App Store guidelines.” App developers are responsible for the software in the emulator app, “including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws,” Apple says.
Update as of April 11. The uproar over the Digital Markets Act, EU legislation that sought to open up iPhone and other brand products to the EU, and is directly linked to the new App Store mandates, continues. In addition to Apple updating its App Store guidelines, there’s now a new report showing how another element of the Act is playing out in terms of user response.
This is a requirement for Apple to offer EU users a list of web browsers during setup, instead of defaulting to Safari, for example. It is known, in a new report from Reuterspointed out 9to5Macthat the new arrangement meant that more people chose browsers other than Safari when prompted.
For a long time it was possible to choose a different browser. For example, if you download Chrome and go to Chrome settings in the Settings app, you can manually select Chrome as your default browser.
But what’s new is that Apple has to display a screen during setup that prompts you to choose your default browser and, to keep the game level, the list of browsers has to be shown randomly.
And the report said: “Independent browser companies in the European Union saw a sharp increase in users in the first month after EU legislation forced Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Apple to make it easier for users to switch to rivals, according to data provided to Reuters by six companies.”
One such browser is Cyprus-based Aloha. He says users jumped 250% in March and adds: “Before the EU was our number four market, now it’s number two,” said the company’s CEO.
Similarly, Vivaldi, Ecosia and Brave have reported increases in user numbers since the new regulation took effect. Many of these climbs will happen on the iPhone.