EU mandates Apple to open up iPhone, iOS to competitors under Digital Markets Act

[Skye Jacobs]

What just happened? The European Union has outlined steps that Apple must take to open up its iPhone and iPad operating systems to better integrate with competitor's devices under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Under these new guidelines, Apple must enhance the interoperability of its iOS platform with devices such as smartwatches, headphones, and televisions.

For instance, third-party smartwatches must be able to display and interact with iOS notifications by the end of 2025, likely coinciding with iOS 19.2 or earlier.

Additionally, Apple must make its automatic audio-switching feature available to third-party headphones by June 1, 2026. This functionality, expected to be implemented in iOS 19.4 or earlier, currently allows seamless switching between Apple devices – a capability currently exclusive to AirPods and select Beats products.

Furthermore, Apple will be required to modify iOS to support third-party alternatives to AirDrop by June 1, 2026, and to AirPlay by iOS 20.

The European Commission has also specified that Apple must provide developers and businesses with free and effective interoperability with both hardware and software features, as outlined in Article 6(7) of the DMA. This includes access to nine previously restricted iOS connectivity features, such as peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, NFC capabilities, and device pairing. As a result, non-Apple devices – like Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches, and connected televisions – should achieve better compatibility with iPhones.

In addition to these technical changes, the EU has mandated that Apple improve transparency and efficiency in handling interoperability requests from developers. This includes ensuring timely communication, regular updates, and a predictable review timeline for such requests.

Apple strongly opposes these measures, arguing that they are "bad for our products and our European users." The company claims the new regulations "wrap us in red tape, slowing Apple's ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don't have to play by the same rules."

Apple has also expressed concerns about the potential privacy risks associated with these interoperability mandates. The company argues these requirements could expose sensitive user data as third-party devices and developers gain access to iOS features.

This includes access to notifications containing personal messages or one-time codes, as well as Wi-Fi network details, which Apple argues could be exploited by third-party developers who lack the same privacy safeguards Apple enforces. The company fears that these new access points could be misused for data tracking and profiling, potentially circumventing GDPR protections.

Despite Apple's objections, the EU remains committed to enforcing these regulations, with potential penalties of up to 10 percent of Apple's global annual revenue for non-compliance.

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EU mandates Apple to open up iPhone, iOS to competitors under Digital Markets Act

 

[Puiu]

It's about damn time they did this.

 

[Primey]

Apple must be absolutely livid at the European Union. You love to see it

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Apple must be absolutely livid at the European Union. You love to see it

Yes, you got to love when the government tells companies how to run their own businesses. Eventually Apple might pull out of the EU and users will simply procure their iPhones outside the EU. That's not hard either. There are only a few countries that do not border a country outside of the EU:
- Portugal
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Luxembourg
- Slovenia

The others all border non-EU nations:
- Ireland (UK)
- Spain (Gibraltar/UK, Andorra)
- France (Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland)
- Germany (Switzerland)
- Austria (Switzerland, Liechtenstein)
- Italy (Switzerland, Vatican, San Marino)
- Croatia (Bosnia, Serbia)
- Hungary (Serbia, Ukraine)
- Slovakia (Ukraine)
- Poland (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia)
- Finland (Russia, Norway)
- Sweden (Norway)

I didn't list those from Eastern Europe, but they border fewer EU nations than non-EU nations.

 

[MasterAce]

I never asked for any of this. People can buy android for this.

This is just typical EU BS

 

[kiwigraeme]

Is any of this bad?? not sure how a fitbit or whatever its called works on an iPhone, but surely being able to use a wide range of things is a good thing

But security !! think of the children!!! - IDK , not a programmer something about permissions , rinsing stuff etc

We will just get Windows vs Mac - Windows plug and play , everything connectible
Apple pay a huge fee , get approved and we will allow your printer to touch the almighty Mac

Must of been galling to be a free spirit and watch PC users play with stuff. Instead of following Apples orders - Johnny can't come out to play , it's too scary , we don't know where than scanner has been

Apple: Aren't you ashamed?
Billy: No, I'm not.
[Applause from PC friends]
Apple: You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this.
Billy: Um, um, well, y-y-y-you d-d-d-don't have to t-t-t-tell her, Miss Apple .
Apple: I don't have to tell her? Your mother and I are old friends. You know that.
Billy: P-p-p-please d-d-don't tell my m-m-m-mother.

 

[daffy duck]

Apple must be absolutely livid at the European Union. You love to see it

Agent Orange is already frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog. US big tech firms are trying to get him to punish Australia for having the audacity to have laws governing social media. EU has already said they couldn't care less what Agent Orange thinks, they are proceeding full steam ahead against Google and Apple and good on them.

EU must be doing something right, it's already causing outrage in the comments.

 

[Puiu]

Yes, you got to love when the government tells companies how to run their own businesses. Eventually Apple might pull out of the EU and users will simply procure their iPhones outside the EU. That's not hard either. There are only a few countries that do not border a country outside of the EU:
- Portugal
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Luxembourg
- Slovenia

The others all border non-EU nations:
- Ireland (UK)
- Spain (Gibraltar/UK, Andorra)
- France (Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland)
- Germany (Switzerland)
- Austria (Switzerland, Liechtenstein)
- Italy (Switzerland, Vatican, San Marino)
- Croatia (Bosnia, Serbia)
- Hungary (Serbia, Ukraine)
- Slovakia (Ukraine)
- Poland (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia)
- Finland (Russia, Norway)
- Sweden (Norway)

I didn't list those from Eastern Europe, but they border fewer EU nations than non-EU nations.

"Hurr durr, regulations bad, government bad, save trillion dollar companies from the bullies!"

 

[Puiu]

I never asked for any of this. People can buy android for this.

This is just typical EU BS

And yet you happily use all of the benefits that the EU is giving you with their pro-consumer regulations.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

"Hurr durr, regulations bad, government bad, save trillion dollar companies from the bullies!"

"Hurr durr, trillion dollar companies bad, save stupid consumers from bullying themselves!"

 

[AnthonyANI]

W
Maybe we will finally get to install third party apps and use the iPad more like a real computer.

 

[BobHome]

What if a half-dozen or so owners of these mega-corps said: 'Aw, just screw it with governments (including EM & T) telling businesses how to run themselves, I'm shutting down.'
They close the doors, destroy all their IP and move somewhere safe with their Billion$.
No more Windows, iOS, Meta, Android, etc.

 

[Puiu]

"Hurr durr, trillion dollar companies bad, save stupid consumers from bullying themselves!"

So you are admitting to defending companies and you are against pro-consumer practices.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

So you are admitting to defending companies and you are against pro-consumer practices.

Dumb reply deserves another equally dumb equivalence: so you admit to defending communist governments and you are against businesses trying to compete with each other.

 

[RaXelliX]

Yes, you got to love when the government tells companies how to run their own businesses. Eventually Apple might pull out of the EU and users will simply procure their iPhones outside the EU. That's not hard either. There are only a few countries that do not border a country outside of the EU:
- Portugal
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Luxembourg
- Slovenia

The others all border non-EU nations:
- Ireland (UK)
- Spain (Gibraltar/UK, Andorra)
- France (Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland)
- Germany (Switzerland)
- Austria (Switzerland, Liechtenstein)
- Italy (Switzerland, Vatican, San Marino)
- Croatia (Bosnia, Serbia)
- Hungary (Serbia, Ukraine)
- Slovakia (Ukraine)
- Poland (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia)
- Finland (Russia, Norway)
- Sweden (Norway)

I didn't list those from Eastern Europe, but they border fewer EU nations than non-EU nations.

Wow imagine that. A for profit company that cant do whatever the hell it wants. How dare the democratically elected governments act in their voters best interest, against this for profit company. /s

Apple will NEVER pull out of EU. I'll tell you exactly why: Indonesia.
Some time ago Indonesia blocked the sales of iPhone 16 unless Apple committed to investing up to 1 billion in their country. Apple caved and agreement has been reached for 300m+ investment by Apple ( https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/26/iphone-16-to-launch-in-indonesia-on-april-11/ )
FYI Indonesia has ~280 million population and GDP 1.4t USD. GDP per capita is $5k per person.
The EU is much bigger with ~450 million people and GDP 18x larger and GDP per capita 8x larger.

If Apple did not want to use Indonesia there zero chance it wants to lose the much bigger and richer EU.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Wow imagine that. A for profit company that cant do whatever the hell it wants. How dare the democratically elected governments act in their voters best interest, against this for profit company. /s

Apple will NEVER pull out of EU. I'll tell you exactly why: Indonesia.
Some time ago Indonesia blocked the sales of iPhone 16 unless Apple committed to investing up to 1 billion in their country. Apple caved and agreement has been reached for 300m+ investment by Apple ( https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/26/iphone-16-to-launch-in-indonesia-on-april-11/ )
FYI Indonesia has ~280 million population and GDP 1.4t USD. GDP per capita is $5k per person.
The EU is much bigger with ~450 million people and GDP 18x larger and GDP per capita 8x larger.

If Apple did not want to use Indonesia there zero chance it wants to lose the much bigger and richer EU.

Wow imagine that. The comparison of Indonesia makes my point even more relevant. What is the land border of Indonesia? Oh wait, it's a bunch of islands. That means a small fraction could get to another country if they wanted to purchase an iPhone on their own. Meanwhile Europe has over 15,000 km of land borders and it advertises itself as being intentionally easy to pass through.

Anyways the combined populations of Portugal, Czech Republic, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Slovenia only 51M people and their combined GDP is $2.76t USD. As I said, Apple could pull out of the EU if it wanted to and its consumers would still keep buying iPhones. The same does not apply to Indonesia.

 

[RaXelliX]

Wow imagine that. The comparison of Indonesia makes my point even more relevant. What is the land border of Indonesia? Oh wait, it's a bunch of islands. That means a small fraction could get to another country if they wanted to purchase an iPhone on their own. Meanwhile Europe has over 15,000 km of land borders and it advertises itself as being intentionally easy to pass through.

Anyways the combined populations of Portugal, Czech Republic, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Slovenia only 51M people and their combined GDP is $2.76t USD. As I said, Apple could pull out of the EU if it wanted to and its consumers would still keep buying iPhones. The same does not apply to Indonesia.

And yet even your selection of EU countries has higher GDP than all of Indonesia combined. Like I said. Apple will never pull out of EU as it's one of their primary markets. They may complain and whine, but they realize that they would lose more by pulling out than they would by complying with regulations. Of course people in EU would still be buying iPhones if Apple pulled out. That's not in question. But since it will never happen it's also a moot question that has zero bearing on reality.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

And yet even your selection of EU countries has higher GDP than all of Indonesia combined. Like I said. Apple will never pull out of EU as it's one of their primary markets. They may complain and whine, but they realize that they would lose more by pulling out than they would by complying with regulations. Of course people in EU would still be buying iPhones if Apple pulled out. That's not in question. But since it will never happen it's also a moot question that has zero bearing on reality.

Not necessarily. We're talking about changing Apple's profitable business practices completely, or massive fines. Neither is a good situation for Apple. If Apple can't make Apple store revenue like it wants, then maybe it will play hardball in Europe.

Notice in last year's press release about the EU's DMA they're shitting all over it: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024...fari-and-the-app-store-in-the-european-union/

And of course countries are trying to get Apple to put in backdoors on security features like end-to-end encryption and Apple is shitting on that too by killing the entire feature because they won't give into government pressure: https://apnews.com/article/apple-ip...ybersecurity-c5c37e99b3b9161dbed24231fbd94746

But hey, maybe Donald Trump will be the one to put pressure on the EU to stop bullying American companies into harming their own businesses, we'll see: https://www.politico.eu/article/big...n-commission-meta-apple-donald-trump-tariffs/