The government’s allegations against Apple are likely to face high legal penalties in court, if the lawsuit gets that far.
Apple said it would “vigorously” contest the lawsuit. A win for the plaintiffs would “impede our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple,” the company said.
If you have an iPhone, you can see the heart of the government’s accusations for yourself.
The Justice Department says Apple is limiting choices with apps, text messages, the ability to tap your phone to buy lunch, and options to seamlessly use a Garmin or Samsung smartwatch with an iPhone.
Apple has previously said that such restrictions protect your security and privacy. But the government says Apple’s restrictions limit your choices to allow Apple to get even richer at the public’s expense.
If you use an iPhone, you are subject to several restrictions highlighted in the government’s lawsuit, including:
You can’t send secure iMessages to someone with an Android phone
If you have an iPhone and send a message to a friend with an Android phone, each of your phone companies gets a copy of that message — and it’s less secure from hackers.
If you send a video message to your Android friend, it will probably look compressed or distorted. You don’t get an indication that your friend has read your text, like you would if they had an iPhone.
If you have a Windows PC, you can’t easily read your iMessage chats on a PC like you can on a Mac.
Apple said its choices make you safer, but the company’s actions make many chat messages less secure and less functional.
According to the Justice Department lawsuit, an Apple executive forwarded an email to CEO Tim Cook in 2016 that said making it easier for iPhone and Android phone users to send messages “will hurt us more than it helps.”
You can read the government’s complaint here.
You can’t try some potentially useful apps
Imagine downloading one app that lets you play a bunch of games like “Candy Crush” and “World of Warcraft.”
Xbox made such an iPhone app a few years ago, but Apple never let you try it. Instead, you generally have to download and pay for each game app separately.
The Justice Department said Apple’s decision to block those types of apps within apps prevents you from trying potentially innovative products. The government’s lawsuit essentially compared it to Netflix, which only lets you watch one movie instead of giving you access to a bunch of shows.
Apple said in January that it would start allowing apps inside other apps, though it’s not yet clear how that might work in practice.
You can’t pay with touch with anything other than Apple Pay
In the United States, Apple restricts access to technology on your iPhone that allows you to place your phone near a cash register to pay for groceries, a subway ticket, or a cup of coffee.
This is partly to protect your phone, but it also directs all your purchases with a tap to pay through Apple’s own Pay service, allowing the company to charge a fee every time. Even if you wanted to, you can’t pay with PayPal, the Cash app, Venma, or other payment services instead.
In its lawsuit, the Justice Department said Apple is “using its smartphone monopoly” to prevent financial companies from “developing better products and payment services for iPhone users.”
After the European Union recently passed a law forcing Apple to provide access to its touch payment features, PayPal told its investors that it plans to make its payment service available for touch payments on iPhones.
Apple has previously lifted some restrictions on the iPhone
If you click a link in the standard iPhone email app, you can open the page in Chrome, not Safari. You can ask Siri to play music from Spotify, not just the Apple Music app.
You can now use Gmail or Outlook as your default email app on your iPhone instead of Apple’s email app.
Apple didn’t allow those options until a few years ago, when it lifted those previous restrictions following claims by US government officials and rival companies like Spotify that Apple was unfairly limiting technology choice.
Also, after pressure from regulators, Apple is working to make the iPhone messaging app a bit more compatible with the standard Android messaging app.