Mr. Cook, tear down that wall.
Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices have always been incredibly locked down, without the ability to install apps from outside the App Store, use web browsers with alternate engines, or other features available on Android phones and desktop platforms. That’s now changing… but only in the European Union.
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the rest of the 27 countries in the European Union passed the Digital Markets Act in 2022, which manded requirements on app stores and other digital markets in the region. Apple has now revealed how it will update the iPhone and iPad to comply with the new legislation: apps outside the App Store won’t be blocked, developers can create alternate app stores (think Steam on Windows), and external apps don’t have to go through Apple’s payment systems.
There are also significant changes coming to web browsers on iPhone and iPad. Web browsers with custom rendering engines are now permitted, so apps like Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge can now be closer to their desktop and Android counterparts, instead of just using the Safari engine with its same limitations.
Source: Apple
