Apple will permit users in the EU to sideload iPhone applications – According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman’s weekly email, Apple is working on enabling users in the European Union to sideload iPhone software onto the company’s smartphones.
Due to Apple’s need to comply with new EU rules, iPhone owners will be able to install apps that are not housed in the company’s App Store for the first time. Unlike Google’s Android operating system, customers in other regions are not likely to be able to sideload programs.
Apple will permit users in the EU to sideload iPhone applications
Gurman says that iPhone users in the EU will be able to sideload apps in H1 2024, enabling customers to install apps that aren’t authorized on the App Store, in the subscriber-only edition of his monthly Power On email (via MacRumors). The statement runs counter to a recent report suggesting that when iOS 17.2 is released next month, sideloading functionality for EU citizens will be added. However, it seems that the code that was discovered at the time was connected to controlled devices for businesses.
Also see: Apple AI-Infused iOS 18 Update Will Help iPhone 16 Series Lacking Major Hardware Upgrades
Gurman claims that Apple will permit sideloading of apps by EU users through a “highly controlled system”; this implies that the apps will still be subject to security inspections since Apple has maintained in the past that the platform may have security flaws due to external app sources. According to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), adjustments are also anticipated for Apple’s payment services and the Messages app.
According to reports, Apple halted work on the iOS 18 upgrade recently in order to fix a number of issues in the company’s code. The business is reportedly working on “major new features and designs”; an operating system update for its handsets is probably going to result in a redesigned user experience in addition to a number of new AI-powered capabilities.
Google Assistant with Bard and Microsoft Copilot are two examples of the AI-powered technologies that Google and Microsoft have started to integrate into their operating systems. As per Gurman, the iOS 18 update from Apple must be “extra impressive” because there won’t be any significant hardware changes for the company’s rumored iPhone 16 series devices, which are slated to succeed the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, next year.
