If you thought the release of the latest iPhone software, iOS 17.4, meant things might be back to normal in the iPhone world, think again. Apple has just released new details about how the iPhone is changing. In response to the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, Apple’s rule change updates how app markets will work on the iPhone. These changes are now for EU residents, but governments around the world will be looking carefully to see if they need to adopt similar laws. Watch this space.
Big changes are coming, faster than ever, to the iPhone.
March 13 update below. This post was first published on March 12, 2024.
Previously, Apple said that if you are an app market operator, you should allow submissions from other developers. Today’s change means marketplaces can only offer apps from one developer.
Apple says: “We’re providing more flexibility to developers distributing apps in the European Union (EU), including introducing a new way to distribute apps directly from the developer’s website.”
Provided a developer has agreed to the Alternative Terms Supplement for Apps, they have new options for their Apps.
First, they can opt for alternative app markets. “Marketplaces may offer a catalog of apps exclusively from the developer of the marketplace.”
Or they can connect to buy. This means: “When directing users to complete a transaction for digital goods or services on an external website, developers can choose how to design promotions, discounts and other offers. Apple’s design templates, which are optimized for key purchase and promotional use cases, are now optional.”
That’s a huge difference, offering developers a lot more freedom in how they transact for digital goods.
Then, in a few weeks, comes the biggest change of all. Apple describes it this way: “Web distribution, available with a software update later this spring, will allow authorized developers to distribute their iOS apps to users in the EU directly from a developer-owned website. Apple will give authorized developers access to APIs that make it easy to distribute their apps from the web, integrate with system functions, back up and restore user apps, and more.”
It’s hard to fathom how big a change this is. Until now, you could download progressive web apps, but the corresponding apps only had to come from one place, the App Store.
With this change, when it comes, EU users will be able to go to the website and click the download link. Things are moving fast for the iPhone.
Update as of March 13. Proof, if proof was needed, that the latest iPhone DMA changes have an immediate effect came today from a browser company.
Brave, which describes itself as “the browser that puts you first,” says it’s seen a spike in iPhone installs since the iOS 17.4 update was released. In a post on X, Brave said: “Why have Apple and Google made it so hard to change default browsers for so many years? Because it’s a powerful way to block competitors. Just look at what happened to Brave iPhone installations in the EU when Apple rolled out a new default browser selection screen on March 6th.”
He also posted a chart showing that daily installs, which were around 7,000 to 8,000 at the end of January, rose to 11,000 as soon as iOS 17.4 was released.
That’s because one of the elements Apple added to comply with the legislation is a new splash screen that users see when they first open Safari after installing an update. For the first time, Apple is providing a list of the most downloaded browsers, in random order, for users to choose from.
And, as you know, these requirements are EU-specific for now, but other countries may implement similar changes in the future.