Impending EU Regulation to Force Apple to Allow Third-Party App Stores and Open Up iMessage

According to a document published by the European Commission, Apple will be forced to allow users to use third-party app stores and payment systems, as well as make iMessage interoperability with other messaging services.

The European Commission explained and clarified what the Digital Markets Act will mean for companies that are designated asgatekeepers in a document published on Saturday.

The leaked version of the DMA indicated that Apple could be forced to make changes to the App Store, Messages, and third-party browsers in Europe. The latest document reiterates that users will have to be allowed to install third-party app stores, while developers will have to be able to promote their offers outside the platform and use third-party payment systems.

The requirement to make messaging, voice-calling, and video-calling services interoperability is one of the new additions to the DMA. The document states that a third-party developer will have to request interoperability with a service within a certain time frame. After two years, video and audio calls will be allowed, and after four years, group chats will be allowed. Apple will be forced to comply with the interoperability rules because they mean that Meta apps can request to interoperate with the iMessage framework.

Apple has resisted attempts to change its operating systems and services. Apple chose to pay a $5.5 million fine every week for ten weeks in the Netherlands instead of obeying orders from the Authority for Consumers and Markets to allow third-party payment systems in Dutch dating apps.

The company that ignores the rules will face fines of up to 10 percent of the company's annual turnover, or 20 percent in the event of repeated violations, as well as periodic penalties of up to 5 percent of the company's total. The European Commission will be able to impose additional sanctions, such as obliging a gatekeeper to sell a business or parts of it, or banning them from acquiring it.

In March, EU lawmakers approved the DMA. The European Parliament and the Council will need to approve the final document before it can come into effect. Margrethe Vestager, the digital competition chief, said last month that she expects the DMA to come into force in October.