EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager says Apple’s compliance with the Digital Markets Act should include an option to prevent apps like Photos from being installed on the iPhone, a goal the company is currently failing to meet.
It comes after the announcement that the European Commission is investigating Apple’s compliance with the DMA. On Monday, the Union announced that it is investigating Apple (as well as Google and Meta) because it suspects that the measures introduced by all three “do not meet the effective fulfillment of their obligations under the DMA”. In particular, the Commission is concerned about Apple’s ongoing anti-governance measures and fees related to its policy of alternative app stores. Vestager’s remarks also reveal the European Commission’s focus on uninstalling certain apps and defaulting others, giving us a clearer picture of the EU’s vision for iOS and the user experience on Apple’s top iPhones that it wants to impose.
Vestager remarked Monday that the third DMA investigation against Apple relates to Article 6(3) of the DMA, which states that “gatekeepers have an obligation to enable easy uninstallation of applications and easy change of default settings,” and “must also display a selection screen.” Although Apple has started offering users a screen to choose the default browser on the iPhone in the EU, the Commission believes that this measure does not go far enough and that Apple also needs to go further with its other default apps.
Who needs the Photos app anyway?
“Apple also failed to make several apps uninstallable (one of them would be Photos),” Vestager said, adding that Apple also “prevents end users from changing their default status,” citing “Cloud” apps as another example. Vestager did not clarify what kind of solution she expects Apple to offer in this regard, but the possibility of uninstalling the Photos app sounds like a recipe for disaster at first glance.
Almost all iPhone users would consider the Apple Photos app to be a core iPhone experience, much like the Phone or Messages apps (both of which have also been highlighted by the EU in the past). It seems to me that the ability to uninstall the Photos app would bring almost no benefit to users. Once removed, either by choice — or more likely by accident — users would be unable to view or share their photos on the iPhone. There is also the possibility that it could pose a risk that users could lose their photos if they are not handled properly. The App Store has tons of alternative photo apps from rivals including Google, Amazon, and others that users can download for free at their leisure. As is often the case, the best consumer iPhone apps generally don’t come from Apple, but are readily available in the App Store, usually for free. Speaking to iMore, a spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that, as it stands, the EC says that “Apple has so far not shown that all of the remaining six apps that cannot be deleted are indeed essential to the functioning of the operating system.” If Apple wants these apps to remain part of the core iPhone experience, it seems it needs to do more to convince the EU of that fact.
While a default photo app screen similar to the browser screen could give users more choice, simply offering the option to uninstall photos seems arbitrary and could have unintended consequences. Even if Apple offered a screen of choice, there is no guarantee that would satisfy even the European Commission. Vestager’s remarks also state that “the current design of web browser selection screens deprives end users of the ability to make a fully informed decision. Example: They don’t improve user engagement with all available options.” Vestager may be alluding to Apple’s choice to only display a random list of the 11 most downloaded browsers in any given EU area alongside Safari. At the DMA workshop last week, one the complainant asked Apple “Will Apple introduce mandatory forced scrolling” to ensure users check out all browser alternatives? As a commentator This is Jebelli, a computer engineer and competition attorney, notes in response to Vestager’s comments, “It appears that mandatory forced scrolling is indeed a requirement of compliance with the DMA.” Elaborating further, he claims: “The fact that Safari is randomly displayed points to an inconvenient truth that the EC will have to face, some people will want to choose Safari (and probably even scroll to it) no matter how much friction the EC causes in system,” which begs the question, “how far will the European Commission be willing to go to support competitors?”
In any case, the EU is clearly not happy with Apple’s current stance on how it offers its users a choice of browsers, and more action will follow on other apps, regardless of whether it actually benefits users.