Happy Digital Markets Act Day to those who celebrate. Apple has published a document titled “Apple’s Non-Confidential Summary of DMA Compliance Report” in which it outlines policy changes now in effect. In the new 12-page document, Apple outlines more future changes coming to EU users later this year and early next year.
For starters, Apple will allow EU iPhone users to switch their default navigation app from Apple Maps as soon as next year:
Apple also plans to introduce a new default control for users in Settings for navigation apps. Apple aims to make this solution available by March 2025.
That timeline means EU users can expect to see that change as part of an update to iOS 18.
Apple will also add the ability to delete Safari from the iPhone in an update to iOS before the end of the year. Apple already allows third-party browsers to be set as the default browser on iOS for all users. As part of iOS 17.4, EU users are reminded of this feature when first launching Safari, and third-party web engines are supported as well.
Apple also plans to expand app analytics data globally later this year with “a secure solution for users to authorize developers to access data related to their users’ personal data (to the extent it is available to Apple and users have consented to their personal data being shared with the developer).”
Lastly, Apple promises to expand its data portability tools for App Store account data. From the latest document:
Users are able to schedule daily downloads of their App Store data for thirty days, or
weekly downloads for one hundred and eighty days. The data provided is updated
continuously and corresponds to the data available to Apple at any time following a user’s
request. New requests can be submitted once the scheduled downloads are completed.
Users can review and revoke access to third parties at any time.Apple plans to make further changes to its user data portability offering. Third parties offer migration solutions that help users transfer data between devices with different operating systems. To build on those options, Apple is developing a solution that helps mobile operating system providers develop more user-friendly solutions to transfer data from an iPhone to a non-Apple phone. Apple aims to make this solution available by fall 2025. Apple is also creating a browser switching solution for exporting and importing relevant browser data into another browser on the same device. Apple aims to make this solution available by late 2024/early 2025.
While we’re looking ahead at future versions of iOS, fall 2025 for new iPhone to non-iPhone transfer features could mean iOS 19. You can read the full DMA compliance summary here.
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