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EU Apple Technology

Apple Will Allow EU Users To Delete Safari, Messages and App Store Apps (yahoo.com) 47

Apple will change how users choose browser options in the European Union, add a dedicated section for changing default apps, and make more apps deletable, the company said on Thursday. From a report: The iPhone maker came under pressure from regulators to make changes after the EU's sweeping Digital Markets Act took effect on March 7, forcing it to offer mobile users the ability to select from a list of available web browsers on a "choice screen" the first time they open Safari. In an update later this year, Apple users will be able to select a default browser directly from the choice screen after going through a mandatory list of options.

A randomly ordered list of 12 browsers per EU country will be shown to the user with short descriptions, and the chosen one will be automatically downloaded, Apple said. The choice screen will also be available on iPads through an update later this year. Apple released a previous update in response to the new rules in March, but browser companies criticized the design of its choice screen, and the Commission opened an investigation on March 25 saying it suspected that the measures fell short of effective compliance. [...] Users will also be able to delete certain Apple-made apps such as App Store, Messages, Camera, Photos and Safari.

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Apple Will Allow EU Users To Delete Safari, Messages and App Store Apps

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  • Are these just 12 different Safari skins or are they really different browsers?

  • That's great but... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Thursday August 22, 2024 @12:49PM (#64727054)

    ... are they actually different browsers or just stuck with the same shitty Webkit engine? Because Apple refuses to let other browser rendering engines actually run on their platform.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday August 22, 2024 @02:09PM (#64727286) Homepage Journal

      The EU forced them to allow other browser engines too.

      Hopefully the mobile version of Firefox gets some more love now.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        The EU forced them to allow other browser engines too.

        Apple are the Sith lords of malicious compliance.

        This will be permitted for phones sold inside the European Union only (which we're not a part of any more... well at least for the time being) and I suspect that if you took that handset outside of the EU you'll find it difficult to use, if not impossible due to "an incompatibility with this device" blahdy blahdy-blah stopping you from doing anything and will require a factory reset to fix.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          It will be interesting to see if the UK gets it as well. Since they have region locked it, it's presumably not difficult for them to screw the UK with a worse product.

    • by Mousit ( 646085 ) on Thursday August 22, 2024 @02:38PM (#64727348)

      ... are they actually different browsers or just stuck with the same shitty Webkit engine? Because Apple refuses to let other browser rendering engines actually run on their platform.

      The DMA also required Apple to allow other browser engines, a feature that was implemented with the release of iOS 17.4 earlier this year so it is available now. However, none of the major players have taken up the challenge because of the way Apple implemented the change, so currently Firefox and Chrome on iOS (and several other smaller browsers too) remain WebKit skins even though they have the option of implementing their own engine.

      Both Google and Mozilla have made public complaints [arstechnica.com] over the issues involved in taking advantage of this new functionality. Namely: because Apple is implementing it EU-only, they'd have to maintain separate codebases/applications for the EU and non-EU iOS versions of their browsers, "a burden Apple's Safari does not have to bear" as they say.

      I believe at this point both companies have filed official complaints with the EU governing body, seeking to have Apple's petulance ruled as non-compliance with the law.

      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Both Google and Mozilla have made public complaints over the issues involved in taking advantage of this new functionality. Namely: because Apple is implementing it EU-only, they'd have to maintain separate codebases/applications for the EU and non-EU iOS versions of their browsers, "a burden Apple's Safari does not have to bear" as they say.

        And likely the complaints will go nowhere - because if the EU forces Apple to support it worldwide, that would be applying EU law into the US. Or China law to the EU an

        • if the EU forces Apple to support it worldwide

          The EU can restrict products from being sold in the EU if they are special weird versions for the EU only, because that creates problems for users in that ecosystem. They will lose access to stuff they purchased (apps, in this case) if they go other places in the world. The EU does not consider citizens to have lost those rights if they travel, or even move to another country.

          The EU cannot force Apple to do anything worldwide. That would be slavery. They can decide what products are sold in markets under th

      • by DrXym ( 126579 )

        I hope it is deemed non-compliance. We've seen time and time again how Apple will do the bare minimum to be in "compliance" with regulations and being complete assholes about it.

    • The first step towards shitty "developers" requiring users to have Chrome, you mean. Google is salivating at the prospect of making the internet theirs while everybody else has forgotten what it was like have a Microsoft monopoly ca. 20 years ago. I choose Apple so I don't have to use Google. Where's my choice in this? And BTW, I've been exclusively Safari only for the past decade, and I don't have a complaint.

      • On my Macs I have Chrome and Safari.
        On my iPad I had Chrome and Safari, and a third browser, not sure which one.
        I was on a dating site that time and used one browser for that purpose only, did not want to sniff it around in my browsing history or cache.
        Otherwise I have no idea why people complain about Safari. Never had any problem with it on any platform.

    • That is two years out of date .. Typical Apple hater

  • Good grief. So next time I go into a McDonalds in the EU, they should be forced to give me a receipt with coupons (in random order of course) to competing restaurants?

    • Pretty much.

      So glad I don't have to put up with that bullshit.

      I wonder what the gripe will be when the overwhelming number of people pick Safari. What then? Will Apple have to remove Safari as an option?

      • No, but it will probably go from Gmail app repeatedly asking me if I want to open the link in Chrome to Gmail app repeatedly asking me to install Chrome and make it my default if I want to open any links at all

        (1, I don't even have Chrome installed, 2 I have preferences set to just use system default browser and it STILL asks me every time, and 3 only reason I have Gmail app installed in the first place is because work mail requires it to access mail, period.)

    • by GrahamJ ( 241784 )

      If because of McDonalds there were never any other restaurants but then they were forced to allow them to exist, it would be a public service to force them to mention the others.

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Good grief. So next time I go into a McDonalds in the EU, they should be forced to give me a receipt with coupons (in random order of course) to competing restaurants?

      Is McDonalds the only restaurant you can buy food from? This is more akin to you buying food and McDonalds being your only choice after purchase. At that point yes, yes they should offer you an alternative to McDonalds.

  • Users will also be able to delete certain Apple-made apps such as App Store, Messages, Camera, Photos and Safari.

    Why come with any apps at all? Just force uses to have to download each and every app they want, individually, when they get a phone. Just make the whole process as miserable as humanly possible, sacrificing the users at the alter of "anti-trust".

    • Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Thursday August 22, 2024 @01:38PM (#64727196)

      You make that sound like a bad thing? Hell yes, I CHOOSE EVERY app that gets installed.

    • Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by nightflameauto ( 6607976 ) on Thursday August 22, 2024 @01:54PM (#64727244)

      Users will also be able to delete certain Apple-made apps such as App Store, Messages, Camera, Photos and Safari.

      Why come with any apps at all? Just force uses to have to download each and every app they want, individually, when they get a phone. Just make the whole process as miserable as humanly possible, sacrificing the users at the alter of "anti-trust".

      And what would be wrong with having users select the apps they want after purchase of the phone? That's the way computers used to come too. Frankly, I miss that. A nice, tidy, clean system that you can install *ONLY* the items you want on? Yes. Please. Gimme.

    • by GrahamJ ( 241784 )

      A nice UI that asks you which apps you'd like would be better.

      One benefit is the firmware image would be smaller and not eat as much unrecoverable space.

    • sacrificing the users at the alter of "anti-trust".

      I think you don't understand what anti-trust is about.

  • do the non web kit browsers need to pay core fee of 0.50 euro per install?

  • Why not allow me to delete/uninststall most everything, make my smartphone into a dumb camera phone, just keep the phone-dialer, messages, camera and photo viewing app, oh and flashlight, utilities like compass, measure/level and calculator, get rid of everything else

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