How the EU’s DMA is changing Big Tech: all of the news and updates

The Epic Games Store app for EU iPhones has passed Apple’s notarization process, putting the alternative app store a step closer to selling apps directly to iOS users outside of the App Store. AppleInsider reports that while Apple confirmed the app had passed, it has asked Epic to “fix the buttons” in a future submission to the company’s app review process.

But the approval is just “temporary,” posted Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who puts Apple’s request differently. He says the company is “demanding we change the buttons in the next version,” vowing that the company will “fight this.” The apparently conditional approval is just the latest part of the back-and-forth saga between Apple and Epic. Previously, Apple reinstated Epic Games Sweden’s European developer license after EU regulators started investigating its decision to pull it.

The EU has formally charged Meta with violations of its Digital Markets Act (DMA), marking its second such charge in as many weeks. The European Commission writes in a preliminary ruling that the “pay or consent” advertising model that launched last year for Facebook and Instagram users runs afoul of Article 5(2) of the DMA by not giving users a third option that uses less data for ad targeting but is still free to use.

Regulators found in their investigation that Meta gives users a “binary choice” that forces them to either choose to pay a monthly subscription fee to get the ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram or consent to the ad-supported version. Where Meta runs afoul of its rules, it says, is by not letting users opt for a free version that “uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the ‘personalised ads’ based service” and by not allowing them to “exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data.”

Apple’s App Store “steering” policies violate the EU’s Digital Markets Act meant to encourage competition, said regulators in their preliminary ruling Monday. The European Commission has also opened a new investigation into Apple’s support for alternative iOS marketplaces in Europe, including the core technology fee it charges developers.

“Our preliminary position is that Apple does not fully allow steering,” said Margrethe Vestager who heads up competition policy in Europe. “Steering is key to ensure that app developers are less dependent on gatekeepers’ app stores and for consumers to be aware of better offers.”

Apple says upcoming features like its Apple Intelligence generative AI tools, iPhone mirroring, and SharePlay screen sharing may not be available in the European Union this year, as reported previously by Bloomberg.

Why? The Digital Markets Act (DMA), says Apple, citing the EU law that puts strict requirements on the “gatekeepers” that control massive online platforms to block anticompetitive behavior. Recently, rumors have indicated that Apple and Meta could soon face charges over DMA violations.

Apple and Meta could soon face charges from the European Commission for violating Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules. The Financial Times reported Friday that the Commission is planning to charge Apple, and Reuters reported later that Meta could be charged as well.

The Commission is reported to be targeting Apple over its “steering” rules that charge developers for pointing to third-party purchase options. Meta’s charges will reportedly revolve around its ad-free subscription for Facebook and Instagram in the EU.

The popular alternative Android marketplace Aptoide just launched as a challenger to the Apple App Store in Europe. We’ve seen a trickle of stores launch since March when the Digital Markets Act (DMA) forced Apple to support third-party iOS app marketplaces — but nothing has so far managed to upset the balance of power and change the status quo. 

Aptoide has been around since 2009 and is primarily known as a Google Play alternative for Android users. The Portugal-based company says it currently hosts 1 million apps for some 400 million users. The iOS app store Aptoide is launching today (as an invite-only beta) is a different beast, however, as it only distributes games. It’s the first marketplace of this type available for Apple devices — and its freemium structure could prove very attractive to both developers and users alike. 

There’s been little for Europeans to celebrate since the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) forced Apple to allow third-party marketplaces for iPhone apps. While the launch of AltStore PAL has potential, Apple’s loosening of App Store restrictions to allow emulators took away the marketplace’s main selling point. But now, there’s another alternative app store launching that could really shake up the entire sector: MacPaw’s Setapp Mobile. 

Setapp Mobile enters an invite-only beta today, and we’ve spent the past week giving it a good going over. The verdict? Setapp Mobile’s subscription-based approach opens up an exciting new way of using an iPhone, one where you can play with a range of apps without being stung by reduced features, ads, nags to upgrade, or spending money on something you may not even use. Well, if you live in the EU, of course.

Over the past couple of months, Spotify has been submitting update after update to Apple, changing the interface of its music streaming service to display pricing information in-app for users in the European Union. For users, this is barely worth noticing. But for Spotify, each submission has been yet another skirmish in its yearslong legal struggle with Apple in the EU. And right now, Spotify is the closest it’s ever been to getting Apple to finally cave. 

In March, the European Commission ruled against Apple in an antitrust action over App Store restrictions on music streaming services. In 2019, Spotify filed an antitrust complaint against Apple, claiming that the App Store’s cut of subscription fees — which can be up to 30 percent — stifled innovation and harmed consumer choice. The Commission ultimately agreed with Spotify on its anti-steering complaints and hit Apple with a €1.84 billion (about $2 billion) fine. It also determined that the company’s anti-steering rules are illegal and ordered Apple to allow music streaming services to “freely communicate with” their users “within their apps about available subscription options,” including linking to external subscription options.

Apple is exempting more developers from the Core Technology Fee (CTF) it introduced in the European Union. In an update on Thursday, Apple announced that developers of free apps without monetization won’t have to pay the new fee.

To qualify, Apple says free apps must not have “revenue of any kind,” including money made from physical or digital goods, as well as advertising. “This condition is intended to give students, hobbyists, and other non-commercial developers an opportunity to create a popular app without paying the CTF,” Apple writes in the update.

Following an almost eight-month investigation into whether Apple’s iPadOS holds enough market power to warrant stricter regulation, the European Commission has now designated the iPad operating system as a Gatekeeper service under its flagship Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules.

“The Commission concluded that iPadOS constitutes an important gateway for business users to reach end users, and that Apple enjoys an entrenched and durable position with respect to iPadOS,” reads a statement published by the Commission on Monday. “Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations as applied to iPadOS.”

After we recently tested it in beta, the third-party iOS app store AltStore PAL is now live in the European Union thanks to Apple’s compliance with the region’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The store requires a €1.50 (plus tax) annual subscription to cover Apple’s Core Technology Fee (CTF) for installing the app marketplace itself.

Installing AltStore PAL requires clicking through a lot of Apple’s clumsily implemented scare sheets that double and triple check your desire to install apps from outside Apple’s App Store. But with persistence and enough clicks it eventually installs.

Almost a month after Apple’s begrudging capitulation to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), only one third-party iOS app store is currently live in Europe. It’s the B2B-focused Mobivention marketplace that allows companies to distribute their own apps internally. While that’s fine and all, things won’t stay this way for long — and it’s what’s coming soon that’ll really pique the interest of Verge readers.

Both the Epic Games Store and MacPaw’s Setapp have been announced, but it’s AltStore that’s likely to hit EU users’ phones first. This new app marketplace from developer Riley Testut is a version of AltStore, an App Store alternative that launched in 2019 that doesn’t require users to jailbreak their devices. The primary drive for its creation was Delta, a Nintendo emulator that Testut and his business partner Shane Gill are now bringing to the iPhone through their European app marketplace. 

The European Commission is opening five non-compliance investigations into how Apple, Google, and Meta are complying with its new Digital Markets Act antitrust rules, the regulator announced today. “We suspect that the suggested solutions put forward by the three companies do not fully comply with the DMA,” the EU’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. “We will now investigate the companies’ compliance with the DMA, to ensure open and contestable digital markets in Europe.”

In particular, the Commission plans to investigate Google and Apple’s anti-steering rules in their app stores and whether Google is guilty of self-preferencing its own services within its search engine. Apple’s browser choice screen for iOS is also being investigated as well as Meta’s “pay or consent model” for ad targeting. In a press conference, the Commission said it plans to conclude the investigations within the next 12 months.