Apple tells EU to forget about getting all the new iOS 26 features

Jump to First Reply
Posted:
in iOS

The EU's DMA is said to be in the interests of consumers, but as its been implemented, it's just denying them iOS 26 features Apple can't risk giving away to rivals.

Blue flags with yellow stars and a white airport emblem wave on metal poles, with a modern glass building in the background.
An EU flag with the App Store logo



EU Mac users still haven't got iPhone mirroring, and they aren't going to get Live Activities on the Mac, either. Now Apple has directly told the EU regulators that there are more iOS 26 features that its users at least won't see remotely as soon as anyone, anywhere else.

The only one named is Visited Places, but according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple's vice president of Apple Legal, Kyle Andeer, has used a new EU workshop to tell officials that there will be more.

"We've already had to make the decision to delay the release of products and features, we announced this month for our EU customers," he said. He has explicitly also told them that changes they have already forced on Apple "create real privacy, security [and] safety risks to our users."

He would say that, of course, as that has been Apple's party line throughout the course of the Digital Markets Act. But despite the EU designating several companies as gatekeepers who must be regulated, only Apple is being required to give away its technologies to rivals.

Amongst many other firms, Apple's go-to example of the problems it claims are being caused, is Facebook owner, Meta. According to Apple, Meta has rolled up its sleeves and dug in deep to exploit the DMA's requirements, and is asking for technology and data access it has no call to.

Possibly the EU thinks Facebook has turned a leaf since its Cambridge Analytica scandal, or that its security is more robust since 2024 when it was revealed to have stored 600 million Facebook and Instagram passwords in plain text. If so, the regulators need to look at this week's privacy debacle as Meta attempts to get everyone's entire photo library forever, for free.

If the EU thinks that no firm is more trustworthy than any other, that's not an unfair point. Apple is a corporation, not a saintly monastery, but it has staked its business on user privacy and security.

Three sleek smartphones displaying home screens and world clock app on a colorful gradient background.
If you're in the EU, you can't use iPhone Mirroring



Should an Apple user lose any data or be subjected to any privacy violation, Apple gets its face smashed into hot coals. When Facebook does it, it's a weekday.

Yet seemingly the EU does not see this. The only known response so far to Andeer's comment is that an official says Apple and the EU disagree. This helps no one, and doesn't promise much chance of change in the near future.

DMA needs clarity, not just fines



From Apple's perspective, and in actual execution, the Digital Markets Act may require it to give away its technology that it ships in Europe for free, to anyone who asks for it. The DMA may also mean that Apple must support the devices and the services of anyone who asks for it.

So where Microsoft, Google parent company Alphabet, and Amazon, can develop whatever technology they want and keep it, Apple may not. Apple might have to develop Android Mirroring.

Or it might not.

This is an area where it ought to be clear, but it isn't because the foundation of the DMA is demonstrably not created for the EU's consumer population as it is repeatedly claimed. It demonstrably favors companies instead -- either because they are European, such as Spotify -- or because the only firms able to benefit from the law are large corporations.

An open system that has one open company and half a dozen entirely closed firms, is not an open system at all, and it does not benefit consumers.

Apple ought to be able to just ask whether, say, providing iPhone mirroring will mean having to develop Android mirroring. The EU ought to be able to just say yes or no.

And this questioning and answering ought to have been happening for years now. Initially, both Apple and the EU repeatedly said that they were in discussions about how the company could comply, but then Apple gave up and said actually, no, not so much.

Flight information showing BOM departure at 19:45 and HYD arrival at 21:15, ten minutes early, with a gate departure in 1 hour and 38 minutes.
It's a small but useful new feature in macOS Tahoe, but EU users will not get iPhone Live Activities on Mac



Apple said that in its appeal against the EU fining it $570 million for alleged non-compliance with the DMA. Apple claims that it proposed a solution that would fully comply with the DMA, but the EU told it to wait -- and then fined it afor not implementing that solution.

The EU, for its part, shrugs about that. The fine is based on what Apple did, not whatever idea it may have had about doing something else.

What happens next



We'll never know if Apple really did sit on whatever its solution was, but whether it was then or since Apple appealed, there has been a breakdown in communication. Given how inept previous conversation appears to have been, this might not make a statistical difference.

But there is one sign of one hope that someone at the EU might sort this out and genuinely benefit consumers in its territory. It's that Andeer said all of this to their faces in a workshop in Brussels.

Called the "2025 Apple DMA compliance workshop," it was a chiefly in-person meeting on June 30, 2025. It's part of a series of such workshops, one per company such as Apple and Amazon, running from June 20 to July 3.

Maybe seeing Apple representatives throwing up their hands might make EU representatives have a think.

Yet you know what will happen. While the meeting is private, Apple presumably raised its go-to Meta example, and the EU probably said they will ask Meta about it.

The "2025 Meta DMA compliance workshop" is the last one, on July 3. And in it, Meta will surely say no, no, we need access to all user passwords, photos and data in order for our Meta headset to work.

And then at some point, the EU will nod, agree, and issue another comment about Apple making a "stunning, open declaration" against providing features for European users.

The European Union was the first region in the world to introduce this kind of Big Tech regulation, and it should be applauded for doing so. But we've gone beyond the point where its claim of being for consumer good is a misunderstanding.

It's now just a lie. Consumer rights are just a flag waving exercise as the DMA helps big business, most particularly big European businesses, and has to -- has to -- result in EU users getting a bad deal.



Read on AppleInsider

«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,380member
    It’s about time Apple stood their ground. The EU is as bad as app developers who feel they have a right to dictate how Apple makes and sells their products. 
    timpetusAnilu_777ssfe11jibtrainMan83dewmewilliamlondonAnObserverstrongykurai_kage
     10Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 2 of 25
    sloth77sloth77 Posts: 62member
    I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.

    It is a shame, as some of the EU regulations have been decent - like the USB-C support.
    ssfe11williamlondonAnObservertiredskills
     2Likes 2Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 25
    Apple should politely request access to features inside Meta and Chrome devices. Fair is fair, after all. Can the EU, in good faith, not make that happen through rules and fines to the others? Would their excuses be honored and not Apple's?
    Anilu_777ssfe11trainMan83
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 25
    ManuFRmanufr Posts: 14member
    EU tells Apple to forget about some of their previous regular customers :D 
    EU is so not impressed by Apple... Guess what, when they will lose users, they will do like they do in China, they will say nothing more than « okay » and look in the other direction. Of course, this is easier to fight in a democratic country, when in China or previously in Russia they didn't fight to give access to the data center, ban VPN services, and cervices used to promote democratic regimes.

    For years, Apple systems have proposed services later than in the US. An example? The Vision Pro sold in the EU has no Apple Intelligence. Why? Nobody knows. We have Apple Intelligence in the EU from April on all other devices. Local Siri replies on devices have run there years later than in the EU, and it was way before DMA.
    Come on, Apple, just some other excuses.
    edited June 30
    jibtrainMan83dewmewilliamlondonToroidalstrongyForumPostkurai_kage
     0Likes 8Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 25
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,647member
    I know it's not feasible and economically not reasonable, but I'd like Apple to say "Ya know, times are tough so we're not going to ship the iP17 to youse guys this year.  We're taking stock of our roadmap going forward. Maybe the 19 or 20'.

    Of course there are numerous reasons why that would be a bad idea. Shareholders would panic and scream. Apple would probably lose markets share, some of which it would never get back. A bad idea, but I'd like to see Apple to it, or at least hold off on shipping got dix months.




    jibtrainMan83dewme
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 25
    neuroneuro Posts: 4member
    sloth77 said:
    I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.
    If we were still in the EU, then you would have had representation from your MEP on the matter.

    Also, don't think that not being in the EU prevents similar sentiment being expressed in legislation in the UK. Last week, the CMA published their timetable to investigate whether or not to designate Apple as "having strategic market status (SMS)", which they're entitled to do under the DMCC Act 2024; that's basically the UK's answer to the DMA.
    sphericwilliamlondon
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 25
    sloth77 said:
    I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.

    It is a shame, as some of the EU regulations have been decent - like the USB-C support.
    If you believe in free markets and no fraud is occurring, please tell how the EU setting a USB-C standard is a good thing.  Shouldn’t companies be free to provide options.  If the customers feel ripped off, they’ll buy an Erickson or Nokia.  Oh wait, that didn’t work out too well.  Did Apple cheat or just out compete?  Since the EU has mandated USB-C, how will we ever get anything better?  Oh yeah, the old Soviet model, what ever the government mandates is for the good of the people!  Do you remember the US government mandating Windows for all us Government computers?  How well did that work out?  Innovation?
    Anilu_777timpetusjibtrainMan83dewmewilliamlondonNouniardAnObserverstrongyForumPost
     8Likes 3Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 25

    neuro said:
    sloth77 said:
    I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.
    If we were still in the EU, then you would have had representation from your MEP on the matter.

    Also, don't think that not being in the EU prevents similar sentiment being expressed in legislation in the UK. Last week, the CMA published their timetable to investigate whether or not to designate Apple as "having strategic market status (SMS)", which they're entitled to do under the DMCC Act 2024; that's basically the UK's answer to the DMA.
    So you would support the US designating European products for targeted legislation?  Maybe BMW and Volkswagen have strategic market status in the USA?  What is good for the goose is good for the gander.  
    trainMan83dewmetiredskills
     2Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 25
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 7,123member
    Apple should should just limit official sales of devices in the EU proper such that their number of official users drops to the point where they can no longer be saddled with "gatekeeper" status. There might be supply chain issues that force them to do this.  ;)
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 10 of 25
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 8,327member
    sloth77 said:
    I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.

    It is a shame, as some of the EU regulations have been decent - like the USB-C support.
    If you believe in free markets and no fraud is occurring, please tell how the EU setting a USB-C standard is a good thing.  Shouldn’t companies be free to provide options.  If the customers feel ripped off, they’ll buy an Erickson or Nokia.  Oh wait, that didn’t work out too well.  Did Apple cheat or just out compete?  Since the EU has mandated USB-C, how will we ever get anything better?  Oh yeah, the old Soviet model, what ever the government mandates is for the good of the people!  Do you remember the US government mandating Windows for all us Government computers?  How well did that work out?  Innovation?
    Nope! And if you had read up on why that requirement was put into place, you would know full well that the EU had tried for decades to harmonise the situation.

    The requirement was due to fragmentation in charging options (and goes far beyond phones BTW). 
    muthuk_vanalingamjibtrainMan83NouniardToroidalstrongyForumPosttiredskills
     4Likes 4Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 11 of 25
    So I guess they will have to miss out on Apple Intelligence like the rest of the world.
    williamlondonForumPost
     1Like 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 25
    ssfe11ssfe11 Posts: 193member
    The bottom line is because of the EU incompetence then the EU citizens will suffer while the rest of the world moves on. EU folk need to stand up to this nonsense because Apple did nothing and is doing nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing. 
    jibtimpetusspherictrainMan83dewmestrongytiredskills
     5Likes 2Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 13 of 25
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,800member
    sloth77 said:
    I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.

    It is a shame, as some of the EU regulations have been decent - like the USB-C support.
    As noted, the UK has pretty exactly the same law — except that the U.S. has you by the balls if they want. If Tr*mp says „jump“ to open up the market, you don’t have a 300-million market to poker with until TACO. 

    Instead, you get tariff exemptions for fucking Rolls Royce. 

    Wooo. 
    dewmetiredskills
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 14 of 25
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,800member
    Apple should should just limit official sales of devices in the EU proper such that their number of official users drops to the point where they can no longer be saddled with "gatekeeper" status. There might be supply chain issues that force them to do this.  ;)
    You explain that to the shareholders, go ahead. 
    dewmenubus
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 15 of 25
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 7,123member
    spheric said:
    Apple should should just limit official sales of devices in the EU proper such that their number of official users drops to the point where they can no longer be saddled with "gatekeeper" status. There might be supply chain issues that force them to do this.  ;)
    You explain that to the shareholders, go ahead. 
    Well, remember, Apple's "Europe" includes the Middle East, so the EU is not as big as it seems. And, you know, a large grey market for iPhones might develop.
    williamlondonihatescreennamesstrongytiredskills
     2Likes 2Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 16 of 25
    lowededwookielowededwookie Posts: 1,205member
    I'd side with EU monopoly claims if the EU had companies that competed with Apple but they don't. They're just doing this because any companies they had that might compete, screwed the pooch and ended up in no-man's land... here's looking at you Nokia. And in all reality it was Microsoft NOT Apple that killed Nokia.

    Linux doesn't even come anywhere close to macOS and there is no EU version of anything that competes with Android let alone iOS.

    Maybe the EU should concentrate on solving this before raking Apple over the coals for making products that no one competes with. Through no fault of Apple's I might add.
    tiredskills
     0Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 17 of 25
    jfabula1jfabula1 Posts: 240member
    Good job Apple, about time you wake up to the EU blackmail 
    williamlondonAnObserverstrongytiredskills
     2Likes 2Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 18 of 25
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,800member
    I'd side with EU monopoly claims if the EU had companies that competed with Apple but they don't.
    That's not how laws work. 
    williamlondonihatescreennamesmuthuk_vanalingamstrongytiredskills
     2Likes 3Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 19 of 25
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,184member
    avon b7 said:
    sloth77 said:
    I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.

    It is a shame, as some of the EU regulations have been decent - like the USB-C support.
    If you believe in free markets and no fraud is occurring, please tell how the EU setting a USB-C standard is a good thing.  Shouldn’t companies be free to provide options.  If the customers feel ripped off, they’ll buy an Erickson or Nokia.  Oh wait, that didn’t work out too well.  Did Apple cheat or just out compete?  Since the EU has mandated USB-C, how will we ever get anything better?  Oh yeah, the old Soviet model, what ever the government mandates is for the good of the people!  Do you remember the US government mandating Windows for all us Government computers?  How well did that work out?  Innovation?
    Nope! And if you had read up on why that requirement was put into place, you would know full well that the EU had tried for decades to harmonise the situation.

    The requirement was due to fragmentation in charging options (and goes far beyond phones BTW). 

    You are giving the EU way too much credit (surprise!, surprise! surprise!) for fixing the fragmentation that existed with mobile phone chargers, pre-iPhone.  Apple and Google deserves most of the credit, not some memorandum that mandated the use of a USB Micro port (by 2012) in 2010.

    Before the iPhone (2007), most mobile phones owners did not need to be sync their "dumb" phone with a computer. Back then, syncing to a computer was mainly use for importing and editing contact info, without having to use the small number pad on the phone. Therefore most phones back then had a syncing port and a separate charging port. And the most common syncing cable had a serial DB9 interface on the computer end. Guess what a DB9 interface don't support? Charging.

    But soon after the release of the iPhone, mobile phone companies were scrambling to catch up. And the fastest way was to use the free Open Source mobile OS from Google .... Android. And what did Android already support? The USB interface for data syncing and charging. So there was no longer a need to have a separate charge port on their mobile phones. By the time the EU charger memorandum was signed in 2010, by nearly all the mobile phone makers, the fragmentation of phone chargers was already fixing itself.  All Android phones were already using either USB Mini or the newer USB Micro interface. With nearly all of them using USB Micro, before adopting USB C when it came out in 2015,

    Apple also signed the memorandum and did not violate any of its mandates. Though many here think they did with them using their Lightning interface, instead of USB. With-in the memorandum, was a cause that allowed any mobile phone makers to adopt an interface that had better technology than the USB Micro (at the time).  And it had to be more than just size of the port. Apple 30 pin dock connector and then Lightning, had far better tech than what USB Micro can offer. It is this clause that allowed for mobile phones makers to adopt USB C. If it weren't for this clause, Android phones would still be using USB Micro. Which was the standard set at the time the memorandum was adopted. The EU did not want to limit innovation by forcing mobile phone makers to adopt a standard whose interface was technologically inferior, to what was available or possible.

    Lightning remained better technology than USB C with USB 1 protocol. USB C with USB 2 protocol mostly caught up with Lightning but Lightning still had its advantages. It wasn't until USB C with USB 3 protocol that Lightning began to show its age. Apple could no longer claim that Lightning was better technology than USB C.  But still, a lot of the tech advantages of USB C with USB 3 protocol were for computers. It still took a year or two for hardware on mobile devices and mobile network, to evolve and benefit from those advantages. By this time, Apple had already planned to move on from Lightning. USB C had already been adopted on Apple high end iPads. Rumor had it that the iPhone would fully adopt USB C before 2026. But because of the EU, Apple adopted USB C about year earlier than they planned.

    As for E-waste, Apple stopped supplying a charger with their iPhones back in 2020. Samsung soon followed about a year later, of course after making fun of iPhones no longer coming with a charger. (With most mobile phone makers following Apple lead more than 2 years later.) By the time the EU forced Apple to use the USB C port on their devices, a USB C charger could be used to charge an iPhone. Most iPhone users at the time were either re-using a Lightning charger they already had or they bought a USB C charger with a USB-C to Lightning cable.  A USB C charger have a USB C port on the charger itself.  One can use it to charge USB A, USB Mini, USB Micro  and Apple Lightning devices, with the use of the compatible cable.  (And one of high enough voltage and wattage, can also charge laptops.)The iPhone not having a USB C port was not causing any added E-waste. The E-waste being generated by the fragmentation of chargers on mobile phones, which was the main reason for the memorandum (2010), is with the charging brick. With most of them at the time, having an attached cable with a proprietary interface. Left alone, all mobile phones would had eventually adopted USB C, even without any EU memorandum to set USB C as the standard. Just like how they were all already migrating to the USB interface, before the memorandum (in 2010), thanks to Google offering for free ..... Android that supported USB and mobile phone companies having to make mobile phones that had to compete with Apple iPhones getting thinner and smarter. Natural competition and innovation would had taken care of chargers fragmentation (on mobile phones), soon enough. 

    ForumPostihatescreennamestiredskills
     2Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 20 of 25
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,800member
    The regulation is not just about phones. 
    muthuk_vanalingamihatescreennames
     1Like 1Dislike 0Informatives
Sign In or Register to comment.