Apple will allow third-party app downloads for EU iPhone users in latest concession to antitrust cops

Apple will allow Europe-based iPhone users to download apps directly from third-party websites – the latest attempt by the tech giant to appease regulators after a sweeping European Union competition law took effect earlier this month.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said “authorized developers” can offer direct downloads beginning this spring. The policy tweak marked a reversal for Apple, which has long opposed the practice – known as sideloading – due to cybersecurity and user privacy concerns.

Aside from sideloading, Apple will also allow developers to offer discounts and other promotions to iPhone users outside of its App Store in the manner of their choosing. That change was effective immediately.

The move comes on the heels of Apple’s decision last week to restore “Fortnite” maker Epic Games’ permission to offer its own app store to iPhone customers in Europe.

That reversal came shortly after EU antitrust cops implied Apple’s brazen move to block Epic’s developer account may have violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and said they would investigate the matter.

Apple has faced intense pressure to comply with the EU’s DMA, which imposed restrictions on the business practices of six “gatekeeper” Big Tech firms to boost competition. The firms can face penalties of 10% or more of their global revenue for violating the law, which went into effect on March 7.

For Apple, that can result in a fine of around $40 billion based on the $383 billion in total revenue the company reported in fiscal 2023.

Apple did not immediately return a request for comment.

The company released updated guidance for developers in a blog post Tuesday.

“Web Distribution, available with a software update later this spring, will let authorized developers distribute their iOS apps to EU users directly from a website owned by the developer,” Apple wrote.

In order to qualify, third parties will have to adhere to the stringent updated terms of the Apple Developer Program in Europe. To start, developers will need to have an app that amassed more than one million annual downloads in the EU in the previous 12 months.

Developers also have to pay a so-called “core technology fee” of “€0.50 for each first annual install over one million in the past 12 months” and allow Apple to review apps for security, among other requirements.

Apple’s critics have widely criticized that stipulation and other parts of the company’s plan to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, one of the company’s most outspoken critics, referred to Apple’s compliance plan earlier this year as “hot garbage.”