The Upcoming iOS Changes for E.U. Users Are Making Me Jealous ⇥ developer.apple.com

Apple today announced forthcoming iOS changes for E.U. users, including a more informative first-run browser choice screen — one that will require users to scroll to the bottom before confirming — and the ability to delete every default app except Phone and Settings. Also, this:

For users in the EU, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will also include a new Default Apps section in Settings that lists defaults available to each user. In future software updates, users will get new default settings for dialing phone numbers, sending messages, translating text, navigation, managing passwords, keyboards, and call spam filters. To learn more, view Update on apps distributed in the European Union.

The way this works currently is the user taps on any app capable of being set as a default for a particular category, then taps the submenu for setting the default app, then picks whichever. If you want to set DuckDuckGo as your default browser, for example, you can do so from the Default Browser App submenu in DuckDuckGo, Safari, or any other web browser app you have installed.

I do not think this is particularly confusing, but I do think the version Apple is creating specifically for the E.U. is a far clearer piece of design. Not only is it what I would be looking for if I were trying to change a default app, it also tacitly advertises the ability to customize an iPhone or iPad. It is a solution designed to appease regulators and, in doing so, makes things better for users. It reminds me of the European regulator influenced version of the Amazon Prime cancellation flow which, for users, is far superior to the one available elsewhere.

If someone were designing visual interfaces for clarity, they would end up with the European version of these screens. Which makes me half-wonder — and half-assume — the motives for designing them the other way.

Niléane, MacStories:

These changes to the browser choice screen and the ability to select new default apps on iOS and iPadOS come a few months after the European Commission announced their intention to open a non-compliance investigation against Apple in regard to the DMA.

It is unclear to me if Apple needs to publicly announce these changes in order to allow regulators to review them. I imagine there is not a confidential process by design, perhaps to put public pressure on gatekeepers to follow through with proposed updates.

Still, I am hopeful changes like the Default Apps screen will both appease regulators and become available globally. Perhaps Apple will never enable third-party app stores elsewhere until forced by law, but there are many features created to satisfy E.U. regulators which I believe would benefit iPhone and iPad users everywhere.