EU iPhone users will be able to sideload apps to their iPhones in early 2024.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg confirmed the news recently and said that the sideloading option was in compliance with the regulations in the continent. Sideloading is the process of downloading and installing apps onto a device without having to go to the App Store.
Customers in EU will now be able to download apps without ever opening the App Store, which means developers will no longer have to be shoehorned into the App Store’s percentage fees. Gurman claims that Apple is developing a ‘highly controlled system’ where users can install apps elsewhere, and that the company has made payment app and Messages changes in line with the update.
EU’s DMA, or Digital Markets Act seeks to have gatekeeper companies open their platforms and services to developers and other companies. The US is looking to follow with its own sideloading legislation.
