In recent months, Apple has been forced to make changes to the way its walled garden operates, thanks to pressure from the European Union (EU) and its Digital Markets Act (DMA). And the latest development could have a huge impact on how you use and download the best iOS apps on your iPhone if you live in the EU.
Firstly, you’ll soon have a lot more choice over the default apps used to open certain files on your iPhone. Apple currently lets EU users change their default apps for web browsing, email, contactless payments and in-app purchases, but that’s set to expand to many more soon.
In a post on the Apple Developer website, Apple explained that EU users will soon be able to change their default apps for “dialing phone numbers, sending messages, translating text, navigation, managing passwords, keyboards, and call spam filtering.” That’s a huge increase and should give you a lot more freedom to set up your iPhone the way you want.
You’ll be able to set new default apps for messages, phone calls, password managers, spam filters, and keyboards in an iOS 18 update later this year. Everything else will have to wait until spring 2025.
Apple is also changing how users can choose a default web browser. In iOS 17.4, EU users saw a pop-up with a random list of available browsers. This list now appears if you have Safari set as your default browser (but not if anything else is set as the default), and Apple adds a description next to each app choice. This pop-up appears on every Apple device you have. There is more information about this change on Apple’s website.
More freedom to delete
The changes don’t stop there. Soon, not only will you be able to change your default apps, but you’ll even be able to remove some of Apple’s core apps that have remained a staple of iOS for years.
For example, Apple will let you delete the App Store, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Safari apps from your iPhone once these changes take effect. Previously, you could only remove these apps from your iOS home screen, not delete them altogether.
The App Store is an interesting example, because deleting it used to mean you couldn’t get new apps – or re-download the App Store itself after deleting it – which is why Apple always made it an essential app. But with the rise of third-party app stores on iOS, that’s apparently no longer such a huge concern. As a workaround, Apple will allow users to re-download the App Store app through the Settings app, just in case.
These are clearly pretty big changes. Still, they’re only rolling out to users in the EU right now, and there’s no word yet on whether they’ll be enforced elsewhere. If you live in the EU, though, your iPhone could soon be more customizable than ever before.