Following its long string of legal battles and negotiations with developers over its App Store policies, Apple on Tuesday announced three further changes for developers in the European Union, allowing them to distribute apps directly from webpages, choose how to design in-app promotions, and more.
The company enabled alternative app stores in the EU via its iOS 17.4 updates last week, enabling third-party app stores to offer a catalog of their own wares. For example, a games studio could create an app store on iOS that exclusively offers its own games.
When directing users to complete a transaction on their website, developers can also now choose how to design their in-app promotions, discounts, and deals. Apple’s templates for designing these links out to websites are optional as of Tuesday.
The developers will soon be able to distribute their own apps directly from their websites, provided they meet Apple’s specific criteria, such as having been a member of the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more and having an app with more than one million first installs on iOS in the EU in the prior year and commit to ongoing requirements, such as publishing transparent data collection policies. Apps distributed in this manner must also meet Apple’s notarization requirements like all other iOS apps and can only be installed from a web domain registered in App Store Connect.
Authorized developers will gain access to APIs to facilitate app distribution from the web, integration with system functionality, backup and restore, and more. Web distribution will become available following a software update later in the spring – allowing app downloads directly from a website for the first time on iOS.
These changes mark Apple’s going along with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) compliance plan and only apply within the European Union.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.