The ongoing disagreement between Apple and regulators in Europe shows no signs of letting up. The bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA) entered into force in 2022 and almost immediately started dismantling Apple's walled garden in the region.
In order to comply with the legislation, Apple has made numerous concessions — such as allowing third-party app stores onto the iPhone and letting other payment providers use the device's tap-to-pay feature. And, of course, switching from Lightning to USB-C.
Throughout the process, Apple has complained of the security implications of the DMA and now the company has confirmed it will be withholding certain iOS 26 features for European users.
This isn't unique to the iPhone, either. Mac users in Europe can't use iPhone mirroring and won't be getting Live Activities. But when Apple's new software drops in the fall, Europeans will be getting a watered-down version.
When Apple's new software drops in the fall, Europeans will be getting a watered-down version.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (via AppleInsider), Apple's vice president of Legal, Kyle Andeer, stated: "We've already had to make the decision to delay the release of products and features, we announced this month for our EU customers."
The exact list of features hasn't been revealed, but Visited Places is believed to be among them.
For those of us in the U.S. or the U.K., it's interesting to watch the situation play out. The EU is a gigantic customer base for Apple which is, itself, one of the most powerful corporations in the world. It's like the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.
And the ultimate question is whether or not EU iPhone users are coming out of this better or worse? They're given more freedom in how they use iPhones but Apple itself is depriving them of first-party features.
Whether withholding iOS 26 features is comes from Apple's desire to protect the users or its own technological IP remains to be seen. But Andeer added the EU's decision has created "real privacy, security [and] safety risks to our users."
Repercussions for the US
The fallout from Europe has not gone unnoticed in the U.S.
Kat Cammack, a representative from Florida's 3rd district, has proposed the "App Store Freedom Act" which sounds a lot like the DMA.
According to the district, the purpose of the bill is to "promote competition and protect consumers and developers" by "prohibiting certain anticompetitive practices by dominant app store operators."
While it doesn't specifically mention Apple, it does say it will target "large app store operators" — those with over 100 million users. That obviously affects Google as much as it does Apple. Although given the fact you can already side-load third-party app stores on Android, it's not as concerning as it is for anyone sitting in a Cupertino boardroom.
Do you think losing first-party iPhone features is a worthwhile trade-off for having open access to the hardware? Let us know in the comments section below.
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