Two years of forced iOS openness in the EU: what the Digital Markets Act actually changed

When the EU's Digital Markets Act came into force for Apple in March 2024, it represented the most significant forced change to the iOS platform since its launch. Apple had to allow alternative app stores, allow sideloading of apps, and open up the iPhone's NFC chip to third-party payment apps. The question that followed: would this fundamentally break Apple's ecosystem, or would it have minimal real-world effect? Eighteen months later, we have enough data to give a more honest answer than either side wanted to hear.

What Apple actually had to do

The DMA designates Apple's App Store as a "core platform service" subject to interoperability obligations. For iOS specifically, this meant allowing users in the EU to download apps from sources other than the App Store — both through alternative app marketplaces and through direct web distribution. Apple also had to allow third-party browser engines (not just WebKit wrappers), interoperability with third-party NFC payment systems, and changes to how apps link to external payment methods.

Apple's implementation drew immediate criticism. The company introduced a "Core Technology Fee" of €0.50 per install per year for apps that exceed one million installs — applicable to both App Store and alternative marketplace downloads. For large free apps like Spotify or Meta's apps, this could mean owing Apple millions of euros annually even after leaving the App Store. Critics, including Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, called it "extortion" designed to make alternative distribution economically unviable. The European Commission opened a formal investigation into the CTF structure.

After months of negotiations, Apple modified the CTF in late 2024. The changes reduced the effective cost for smaller developers and created exemptions for apps that don't generate revenue. The Commission closed its formal investigation while opening a separate review of Apple's overall DMA compliance posture.

What actually launched

Two meaningful alternative app stores appeared in the EU. AltStore PAL, operated by the makers of the popular sideloading tool AltStore, launched with a €1.50/year subscription fee. It focuses on emulators and games that Apple wouldn't approve — notably Delta (a Nintendo emulator) became its flagship offering. By early 2026, AltStore PAL had around 600,000 registered users, a meaningful number but a fraction of the 150+ million iOS users in the EU.

Epic Games launched its own marketplace in 2025, focused primarily on distributing Fortnite and its own titles outside the App Store revenue cut. Epic has been transparent about this being partly a strategic move in its ongoing litigation with Apple rather than a commercial bet on EU market size. The Epic Games Store on iOS EU remains essentially a showcase for Epic's own games.

A handful of niche marketplaces targeting specific use cases — adult content, specialized enterprise apps — have also launched, serving audiences that Apple's content guidelines explicitly exclude.

What changed for users

For the majority of EU iPhone users, the experience is identical to before. Surveys conducted by market research firms in Germany, France, and the Netherlands in 2025 found that fewer than 4% of iOS users in those markets had installed any app from outside the App Store. The default behavior — App Store first, always — is deeply ingrained.

The changes that have had real visible impact are narrower. Emulator apps, which Apple had long blocked, are now available through AltStore PAL and, more notably, directly through the App Store globally after Apple reversed policy in mid-2024 (a change widely attributed to DMA pressure). Delta, Provenance, and UTM — a full x86/ARM emulator — are now accessible to EU users through official and alternative channels.

Third-party browser engines are the other meaningful change. Firefox in the EU now runs on Mozilla's Gecko engine rather than a WebKit wrapper, which means different performance characteristics and access to web platform features WebKit hadn't implemented. Most users won't notice, but it matters for web developers and for browser competition.

The global spillover effect

The DMA's biggest impact may not be in the EU at all. Japan passed similar legislation in 2024, effective mid-2025, with requirements closely mirroring the DMA. South Korea had already required Apple to allow alternative payment methods. The UK's CMA has an ongoing investigation into mobile ecosystems that will likely produce similar rules. In the US, the House and Senate have both considered mobile app store legislation, though none has passed.

Apple's global policy on emulators changed — not just in the EU — after it became clear that maintaining a separate EU policy was operationally complex and legally exposed. The NFC interoperability requirement produced a similar global effect: Apple opened NFC access to third-party payment apps worldwide in mid-2024, not just in the EU, citing practical consistency.

This "Brussels effect" — where EU rules become de facto global standards because companies find it easier to comply globally than maintain separate products — is arguably the DMA's most consequential outcome for iOS users outside Europe.

What hasn't changed

Apple's App Store dominance in the EU is effectively intact. The 30% commission on most purchases (reduced to 17% for subscriptions after year one, and to 10% for developers earning under $1M) remains the default for the vast majority of apps. Most developers have not moved to alternative distribution because the economics only make sense for very large apps where the App Store cut represents tens of millions of dollars annually, or for apps Apple would never approve.

The deeper change the DMA's proponents hoped for — real price competition, lower commission rates, meaningful user choice — has not materialized at scale. What the DMA has produced is at the margins: emulators, edge-case apps, browser engine diversity, and global NFC access. Not nothing, but not the opening of the walled garden either.

The Commission's ongoing compliance reviews suggest the EU isn't satisfied with where things stand. Whether more aggressive enforcement, further modifications to Apple's CTF structure, or entirely new technical requirements emerge in the next two years will determine whether the DMA becomes a meaningful check on platform power or a well-documented regulatory exercise with limited practical effect.