This has been awaited for more than 10 years: Apple allows third-party app stores on iPhone
The company also promised to open access to NFC, which means that alternative payment systems will appear on iOS.
Apple has announced global changes in the iOS ecosystem by allowing third-party app stores. They will be available in March on iOS 17.4, but for now only for the European Union.
iPhone users will be able to download only those app stores that have been “thoroughly vetted by Apple,” but their content will no longer be moderated. You can download everything directly from the browser, The Verge writes.
In addition, in accordance with EU legislation, Apple will provide European users with the opportunity to choose alternative payment methods for applications and payment systems, and third-party payment services will have access to NFC capabilities.
In addition, Apple has allowed developers to use third-party browser engines, not just WebKit. This means that iPhone will now have full versions of Chrome and Firefox. Also, the App Store has finally allowed game streaming apps – GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud, and others. They are available all over the world.
All of these changes are relevant for 27 EU countries with the release of iOS 17.4 by March 7. But Apple no longer denies the possibility that the new policy will appear in other regions, including Ukraine.
Why Apple allowed third-party stores
In 2020, the European Commission initiated an investigation into Apple. Since then, the regulator has forced Apple to switch to USB-C in iPhones, and now it has obliged the company to allow the installation of applications from third-party sites.
Apple also promised to implement RCS support in iMessage under pressure from the EU. However, the company will still keep the color-coded message types in iMessage, meaning that an Android user can still be recognized from the first message.
