For iPhone users with iOS 17.4, and iOS developers as a whole, downloading apps from websites instead of the App Store will soon be an option in the EU, but with some chunky caveats.
Apple outlines how this works on its "Getting ready for Web Distribution in the EU" page on the Apple Developer website. While it notes that this feature will be "available in a software update later this spring," it also lays out a number of rules developers will need to stick to in order to make their apps eligible.
Following the law
These guidelines, as well as allowing web distribution for apps altogether, is part of Apple's response to the EU's Digital Markets Act and its efforts to keep big tech companies from monopolizing the space. It's also the reason Apple's had to keep home screen web apps accessible, has made steps toward reconciliation between it and Epic Games, and may make swapping to Android phones simpler down the line.
For developers with enough momentum behind them, the web distribution route could be a legitimate alternative for their products and their customers, especially since using third-party app stores, another feature required by the DMA, will still mean giving some money to Apple. Even still, this is another instance of Apple complying with the law while trying to protect its own interests as much as possible at the same. We'll have to wait and see if the EU has anything to say about this as the system goes live in the next few months.
Meanwhile, users outside the EU will have to continue downloading apps the old-fashioned way, unless their governments decide to enact similar legislation to the EU and force Apple's hand.
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