Amidgrowing tensionsbetween the European Union (EU) and Apple, the latter is making yet more concessions to remain compliant with theDigital Markets Act.In a new blog post, Apple has announced plans to introduce a newiOSand iPadOS ‘Default Apps’ section within settings.
More specifically, users within the European Economic Area (EEA) will be able to adjust new default settings for making phone calls,sending text messages, translating languages, navigating via maps,managing passwords, managing keyboards, and filtering spam calls.
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If this sort of thing sounds familiar, that’s because it is – other operating systems likeAndroidhave long offered users essentially the exact same functionality.
Beyond the overhauled approach to default apps, Apple is making some other changes across its mobile OS offerings. A number of first-party apps will become uninstallable right out of the box:App Store
As for the newly-instated web browser choice screen, whichApple announced in a previous blog post, some additional browser and performance information will be accessible to users in a future software update.
“These updates come from our ongoing and continuing dialogue with the European Commission about compliance with the Digital Market Act’s requirements in these areas,” says Apple.
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No love for those of us living across the pond
All of these iOS reforms are exclusive to select European markets
These new OS additions are only going to be pushed out to users within the 27 EU member states of the European Economic Area. This is expected, as previous Digital Market Act-related policy changes by Apple have also been Euro-exclusive.
It’s disappointing to witness the bifurcation of software features across governmental and territorial lines. That being said, a developingU.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) crackdown on Applemight soon pressure the company to loosen its grip on software within the American market.
There’s still much debate to be had regarding Big Tech’s stranglehold within the software and application industries, as well as how much intervention is appropriate to be taken by various governing bodies.
It’s unclear whether these DMA-compliant reforms will land alongside the release ofiOS 18andiPadOS 18. Apple is vague in terms of timeframe, only going as far as to say the additions will land “by the end of this year.”
In all likelihood, these default apps, app deletion, and browser choice screen updates will hit our iDevices in an 18.x update sometime closer to the end of the year.
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