Forced by the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Apple announced today that it is making big changes to iOS, the App Store and how browsers work on the platform. These changes will become available in the EU with the iOS 17.4 release expected in March.
Let’s start with navigation. Even today, you can select a default browser that isn’t Safari, but any browser that isn’t Safari must use Safari’s WebKit rendering engine. That will change, every browser will be able to use whatever engine they want. Additionally, after iPhone owners in the EU install iOS 17.4, they will be presented with a browser choice screen the first time they access Safari.
The even bigger news is that Apple will allow alternative app stores on iOS. Now, because the company says this will “create new risks” for its users, it will apply a “baseline review” for all apps, regardless of their distribution channel. This involves a combination of automated checks and human review. This process will result in concise descriptions of the apps and their features that will be shown before downloading.
To ensure that alternative app store developers “are committed to ongoing requirements that help protect users and app developers,” Apple will license these “marketplace developers.” It will also add additional protections that prevent iOS apps from launching if they are detected to contain malware.
However, Apple notes that it has “less ability” to address risks such as “apps that contain scams, fraud, and abuse or that expose users to unlawful, objectionable, or harmful content” with the new provisions imposed by the DMA. The company plans to share more information with its customers in March, when all of these changes go into effect.
NFC will be opened on iPhones in the EU, so wallets and alternative banking apps can use touch to pay and be set as the default method for mobile payments.
The App Store will have new options for using payment providers within a developer’s app, as well as new options for “via link” payment processing, “where users can complete a transaction for goods and digital services on the developer’s external website”.
Users will be notified when an app they are downloading uses an alternative payment processor. They will also receive an alert when they no longer transact with Apple and when a developer directs them to transact with an alternative payment processor. This will also involve a new app review process, through which Apple will verify that developers accurately communicate this information.
Going forward, in the EU iOS apps on the App Store will pay a 10% commission (“for the vast majority of developers and subscriptions after the first year”), or 17% on transactions for digital goods and services. There will also be a 3% payment processing fee for those apps that choose to stick with App Store payment processing. Finally, iOS apps “distributed by the App Store and/or an alternative app marketplace will pay 0.50 euros for each first annual installation per year above the 1 million threshold” as a “Core Technology Fee”.
Apple claims that 99% of developers will reduce or maintain the fees owed to Apple, while less than 1% will have to pay the Core Technology Fee described above. For apps on iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS in the EU, developers who process payments using third parties or by linking to their own website will receive a 3% discount on the fee owed to Apple.
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