In order to comply with the requirements of the Digital Markets Act in Europe, Apple is making further changes to iOS. In addition to the already integrated option to set a standard browser and standard mail client, users will also be able to set a standard navigation app in the future. Apple promised this in its DMA compliance plan that the function should be available by March 2025. In the future, this will make it possible to switch from Apple Maps to Google Maps or to other navigation apps such as Waze or TomTom.
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More data portability
There is also further movement in iOS with regard to browsers: Apple wants to make it easier to move from Safari to another browser with a tool that exports the browser data and imports it again. This option is expected to be introduced at the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025, writes the manufacturer, probably as part of iOS 18.
From the end of the year it will also be possible for the first time in iOS to completely delete Safari from the iPhone. With iOS 17.4, Apple has just opened its system to full-fledged third-party browsers, and other manufacturers are allowed to bring their own engine into the operating system for the first time. Google and Mozilla have corresponding projects for Chrome and Firefox, but concrete announcements are still pending. Mozilla criticized the fact that Apple is only opening up in the EU and not globally, which makes it unnecessarily complicated for other browser manufacturers.
Moving from iPhone to Android should be easier
In addition, the long-term aim is to make switching from an iPhone to an Android device easier. Apple is working on a solution that will allow other operating system manufacturers to offer more user-friendly tools for migrating data, the document says. This is apparently only planned for iOS 19 in autumn 2025. In the future, users will also be able to grant app developers access to personal data if necessary; a “secure solution” will be developed for this, writes Apple.
(lbe)