Many people in the tech world consider Apple’s App Store to have been the driving force behind the iPhone’s success. Without it, the iPhone was just another dumb phone trying to be smart. But access to apps via the company’s App Store opened up a whole world of opportunity.
Until now, Apple’s proprietary store was the only way, other than illegal sideloading, for users to download apps onto their iPhones and iPads. But that’s all about to change in Europe, where iOS users will be able to download third-party app stores, starting with the iOS 17.4 update, which was announced on Thursday and is rolling out in March.
This change marks one of the biggest updates to the App Store since Apple first launched it back in 2008. Once users have iOS 17.4 installed on their phones, they’ll be able to download an alternative app store, which has been approved and signed off on by Apple, and they’ll then be able to use it to download other apps onto their device. Apple will even let people set a third-party marketplace as their default app store in the settings of their phone.
These new default app controls extend further than the app store too. For example, when users download iOS 17.4, they’ll be prompted to choose a default browser, which could be an alternative to Safari (Apple already allows people to pick their own default browser, but the prompt is new). Likewise, they’ll be able to choose their own default payment service, as Apple expands developer access to the NFC capabilities on its devices.
The reason this is happening in Europe and not anywhere else is due to a piece of EU legislation called the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, which was adopted back in 2022. The aim of the DMA is to guarantee people in Europe choice when it comes to the digital services they want to use. For tech companies such as Apple, this means creating more of a level playing field, which will allow its rivals to compete with Apple for users’ business and loyalty.
As things currently stand, Apple…
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