Apple Will Delay Bringing New Features to Users in the EU

Apple will delay bringing some features to users in the European Union because regulations are making it increasingly difficult for it to do so, the Wall Street Journal reports.

european parliament
Speaking at a workshop with EU officials and developers in Brussels earlier today, Apple's vice president of legal, Kyle Andeer, said, "We've already had to make the decision to delay the release of products and features, we announced this month for our EU customers." Users' security could be compromised if the company is obliged to open up its ecosystem to competitors, he added.

Tools such as "visited places" in the Maps app will not be available in the EU when iOS 26 is released later this year. Apple said it is still determining which features may not be available in the EU, and is working to find solutions to deliver them as swiftly as possible.

Apple has to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is designed to curb the market power so-called "gatekeeper" technology companies by opening up their platforms. Apple profusely disagrees with the implementation of the DMA and argues that it degrades the quality of its products, exposes users to security and privacy risks, and makes rolling out updates in the EU more complicated.

Andeer said that the changes Apple has had to make to bring its products into compliance with the rules "create real privacy, security, safety risks to our users." An EU official present at the meeting apparently said the regulator and Apple disagree on the reach of the DMA and potential security risks.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

apple intelligence black

Report: Apple's AI Strategy Could Finally Pay Off in 2026

Tuesday December 30, 2025 9:01 am PST by
Apple's restrained artificial intelligence strategy may pay off in 2026 amid the arrival of a revamped Siri and concerns around the AI market "bubble" bursting, The Information argues. The speculative report notes that Apple has taken a restrained approach with AI innovations compared with peers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta, which are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data...
apple fitness 2026 1

Apple Teases 'Something Big' Coming Soon to Apple Fitness+

Tuesday December 30, 2025 2:11 pm PST by
The Apple Fitness+ Instagram account today teased that the service has "big plans" for 2026. In a video, several Apple Fitness+ trainers are shown holding up newspapers with headlines related to Apple Fitness+. What's Apple Fitness+ Planning for the New Year? Something Big is Coming to Apple Fitness+ The Countdown Begins. Apple Fitness+ 2026 is Almost Here 2026 Plans Still Under ...
maxresdefault

Hands-On With a Rough iPhone Fold Mockup

Monday December 29, 2025 10:55 am PST by
Apple is rumored to be introducing a foldable iPhone in September 2026, and since it will bring the biggest form factor change since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, curiosity about the design is high. A 3D designer created an iPhone Fold design based on rumors, and we printed it out to see how it compares to Apple's current iPhones. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
maxresdefault

Where's the New Apple TV?

Monday December 22, 2025 11:30 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Apple TV 4K since 2022, and 2025 was supposed to be the year that we got a refresh. There were rumors suggesting Apple would release the new Apple TV before the end of 2025, but it looks like that's not going to happen now. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said several times across 2024 and 2025 that Apple would...
iphone 17 pro dark blue 1

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max Users Report Static Speaker Noise While Charging

Tuesday December 30, 2025 10:39 am PST by
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max owners are having trouble with the speakers of their devices, and have complained about a static or hissing noise that occurs when the iPhone is charging. There are multiple discussions about the issue on Reddit, the MacRumors forums, and Apple's Support Community, where affected users say there is a noticeable static noise "like an old radio." Some people report...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday December 23, 2025 8:36 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another nine months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models. The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras Under-screen Face ID Front camera in...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Monday December 22, 2025 8:47 am PST by
Earlier this month, Apple released iOS 26.2, following more than a month of beta testing. It is a big update, with many new features and changes for iPhones. iOS 26.2 adds a Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. Below, we have highlighted a total of eight new features. Liquid Glass Slider on Lock Screen A new slider in the Lock...
samsung glitter blue

Samsung's Year End Sale Introduces Major Discounts on Popular Monitors and TVs

Monday December 29, 2025 6:29 am PST by
Samsung kicked off a new end-of-the-year sale this week, introducing great deals on monitors, TVs, Galaxy smartphones, and home appliances. Many of these deals are the exact same all-time low prices we tracked during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep ...
iOS 26 Glass Feature

The 5 Most Important Apple Software Features Introduced This Year

Tuesday December 30, 2025 1:00 am PST by
2025 was a significant year of advancement for Apple's software, with a noticeable focus on visual design, productivity, and communication. While Apple introduced and continued to iterate on a wide range of features throughout the year, several additions stood out for their scope and practical impact across multiple devices. As the year comes to an end, these five new features provide a...

Top Rated Comments

TigerNike23 Avatar
26 weeks ago
I agree with Apple on this one. The way the penalties are laid out they’d have to be extra careful not to run afoul and even then might still get fined.

There needs to be some revision to the law, where the EU can have open markets and Apple be able to fully release new features.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
votdfak Avatar
26 weeks ago

No one in Europe actually likes the EU. The smaller countries need it to compete globally, but that’s about survival, not affection. The foundational ideas were solid, a shared currency, open borders, economic cooperation. But Brussels has become power-hungry and completely out of touch. The patronizing EU now micromanages everything down to how loud your vacuum cleaner can be. It’s absurd.
That's BS. EU is the best project on European soil after WW2.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
System603 Avatar
26 weeks ago
In short, everything stays exactly the same, this is how they run things in Europe and many other places all over the world. Only now they also found a convenient shield to hide behind, even if the EU does genuinely create hurdles for them at times, I'll give them that and I'm also glad.

Disclaimer: I tried, but the dates may not be accurate. They cover only portions of the EU. Many other countries worldwide are still waiting.

* Apple Pay: US 2014 - wider EU rollout 2019
* Apple Care+: US 2011? - not available in most of EU
* iPhone Upgrade Program/trade-in: US 2016? - EU TBD
* Apple News+: US 2019 - EU TBD
* Apple Sports: US 2024 - EU TBD
* Apple Cash: US 2017 - EU TBD
* Apple Fitness+: US 2020 - wider EU release year later (still not available in many countries even just in English/other major languages)
* Apple Intelligence: US 2024 - EU 2025, this one I partially get. They have to provide EU citizens with privacy assurances or face stiff fines for misuse of users' data


Feel free to correct me on the dates, not just downvote please. I'll be glad to fix them.

But I'll rather wait for fully-baked, fully-secured features and services with proper privacy accommodations and data stored locally (both on-device or region-wise) than to have them on day 1.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jeaz Avatar
26 weeks ago

No one in Europe actually likes the EU. The smaller countries need it to compete globally, but that’s about survival, not affection. The foundational ideas were solid, a shared currency, open borders, economic cooperation. But Brussels has become power-hungry and completely out of touch. The patronizing EU now micromanages everything down to how loud your vacuum cleaner can be. It’s absurd.
That's just factually incorrect. Just because you and/or your friends don't like EU, you can't speak for all of us.

If you actually look at facts, current approval rate of EU is around 74%.
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/03/26/eu-basks-in-all-time-high-citizen-approval-rate-amid-tense-geopolitics
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
surferfb Avatar
26 weeks ago

An EU official present at the meeting apparently said the regulator and Apple disagree on the reach of the DMA and potential security risks.
Who do we think is more likely to be right? Apple? Or the regulator who thought mandating Microsoft give kernel access to third parties was a good idea, gave us a plague of cookie pop-ups, and wanted to mandate all phones use Micro-USB to charge?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
d686546s Avatar
26 weeks ago

Who do we think is more likely to be right? Apple? Or the regulator who thought mandating Microsoft give kernel access to third parties was a good idea, gave us a plague of cookie pop-ups, and wanted to mandate all phones use Micro-USB to charge?
Neither. I think it's just as likely that Apple uses 'privacy and security' as a convenient excuse to justify not introducing features to blame regulation that affects its bottom line, as it is that there are genuine concerns and unintended consequences, because nothing ever is perfect.

It's not like Apple has always brought the whole suit of features to any place that isn't the US anyway.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)