But Mr Free said Epic’s lawsuit and the EU’s recently passed Digital Markets Act (DMA) threaten Apple’s app review systems and rules, which have protected users from such things as fraudulent subscription services, chat apps for adults “secretly embedded with ransomware,” and a travel app that “switched to an illegal lending app” after it was installed.
While apps in competing iPhone app stores would likely still be “notarized” by Apple to show they’ve been computer-scanned for specific malware, they wouldn’t enjoy the human review process that Apple undertakes, where each new app or update is scrutinized for an average of 15 minutes before it’s approved for stores, Mr. Free said.
Human reviewers were much better than computers at removing all types of malware, he said.
“Apps that encourage people to perform physical challenges of increasing danger, high speed driving challenges where users are encouraged to film themselves driving and post their results to beat them all, horrible apps that are designed to encourage people to kill themselves. .. [there are] very real problems shown through the Apple review experience.
“The combined result of having those rules and guidelines in place, and their enforcement, is critical to a reliable system that allows app users to transact with confidence… that the apps downloaded will be appropriate.
“These are pro-competitive outcomes that will be compromised in many key respects by the position that Epic is advocating on the ground.”
Likewise, “Apple is not giving reassuring messages to its users in Europe that everything is as good as it always was. There will be gaps created by being forced to move to this different model,” he said.
But if Apple isn’t sending reassuring messages to European consumers, European regulators aren’t sending reassuring messages to Apple either.
On Monday, the European Commission announced it had opened an investigation into the way Apple, Google and Meta are complying with the DMA, which came into effect for the companies in early March after they were appointed “gatekeepers” last September and given six months to comply with DMA gatekeeper rules.
“The Commission has opened proceedings against Apple in relation to its compliance measures to (i) allow end users to easily uninstall any software application on iOS, (ii) easily change default settings on iOS, and (iii) require users with selection screens that must efficiently and easily allow them to select an alternative default service, such as a browser or search engine on their iPhones,” said the EC.
“The Commission is concerned that Apple’s measures, including the design of the web browser selection screen, may prevent users from truly using their choice of services within the Apple ecosystem, in violation of Article 6(3) DMA.”