Apple Will Delay Bringing New Features to Users in the EU - MacRumors
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Apple Will Delay Bringing New Features to Users in the EU

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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.

Tag: European Union

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Top Rated Comments

votdfak Avatar
votdfak
15 months 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)
TigerNike23 Avatar
TigerNike23
15 months 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)
S
System603
15 months 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)
J
Jeaz
15 months 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
surferfb
15 months 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)
D
d686546s
15 months 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)
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