Report: Apple Nearing Agreement With EU Over App Store Rules

[MacRumors]

Apple is nearing a settlement with the European Commission to resolve multiple antitrust investigations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), in a move aimed at averting escalating daily fines that could reach up to 5% of its average global revenue, the Financial Times reports.

Both Apple and Meta are reportedly in the final stages of talks with European regulators following a combined €700 million in fines issued in April 2025 for breaching the EU's flagship digital competition law. According to officials briefed on the discussions, both companies are negotiating changes to their business practices to ensure full compliance and avoid further penalties.

For Apple, the settlement discussions center on the European Commission's ongoing investigations into the App Store. Regulators previously found that Apple restricted developers from directing users to offers outside its platform, in violation of the DMA's anti-steering provisions. The company was fined €500 million in April and ordered to amend its practices.

In June, Apple announced several modifications to its App Store framework for the European Union, including allowing developers to promote alternative payment options and distribute iOS apps via external marketplaces for the first time.

European Commission officials told the Financial Times that talks with Apple remain ongoing over the company's new contractual terms for developers and whether they sufficiently remove barriers to fair competition. The Commission has sought assurances that developers are free to communicate directly with users about external pricing or promotions without facing additional fees or restrictions from Apple.

Under the DMA, designated "gatekeepers" such as Apple must not favor their own services over rivals and must allow fair access to their platforms. The law represents one of the European Union's most far-reaching efforts to curb the power of large technology companies. Violations can trigger substantial daily fines, potentially reaching billions of euros for repeat offenses.

Apple maintains that it is already in compliance with EU law and appealed the Commission's initial decision, arguing that the regulator's interpretation goes beyond what the DMA requires. The Commission is still collecting input from developers and other stakeholders on Apple's proposed adjustments.

Officials close to the discussions expressed optimism that a resolution could be reached soon. The outcome of the case is expected to have wide-ranging implications for the company's operations in Europe, influencing how it manages the App Store and more.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Report: Apple Nearing Agreement With EU Over App Store Rules

 

[jarman92]

Wowwwww, you're telling me that if regulators explain what their hopelessly vague law actually requires, then companies can and will comply with it? I'm shocked!

 

[turbineseaplane]

Non pay-walled link: https://archive.is/2Xb8E

Here's what I want to see (from the article)
👇

“Compliance means that developers get a real chance and that users get a real choice, not buried under a maze of dark patterns from gatekeepers,” said the commission.


Let's do this fam!

 

[I7guy]

Apple should pull out of the eu. The US should add daily tariffs based in the gdp of the eu and the US should go into isolationism. /s

 

[Justin Cymbal]

The EU needs to stop with their money grabbing overreaching policies and acting like they run the planet

Numbers speak for themselves:

Fact Check: Has the economic gap between Europe and the United States increased in the past decade? | Econofact

econofact.org

 

[contacos]

Wowwwww, you're telling me that if regulators explain what their hopelessly vague law actually requires, then companies can and will comply with it? I'm shocked!

One could counter argue that it is nice from the EU to even give Apple a chance to talk about it. They could also be like "you didnt follow our law, here is your fine. do better next time"

 

[Naraxus]

The EU can burn for all I care. They've created nothing but problems. They are expecting Apple to give away their ip (and future ip) to every other company out there for free because those other companies can't innovate & compete on their own merit all the while intentionally ignoring actual monopolies like Spotify because "it's not a Murican company".

 

[contacos]

The EU needs to stop with their money grabbing overreaching policies and acting like they run the planet

Numbers speak for themselves:

Fact Check: Has the economic gap between Europe and the United States increased in the past decade? | Econofact

econofact.org

I guess that is where the culture gap shows. In the EU we do not feel the need to be the best at everything. For me success means a steady job that pays enough to save some money, where I can put the pen down at 5 pm (1 pm on Friday) and enjoy my 34 vacation days. That is success to me

 

[turbineseaplane]

I guess that is where the culture gap shows. In the EU we do not feel the need to be the best at everything. For me success means a steady job that pays enough to save some money, where I can put the pen down at 5 pm and enjoy my 34 vacation days. That is success to me

In America we sadly don't have the luxury to be able to think this way. Here it's the hunger games and you better have a plan for your own retirement, healthcare, avoiding expensive low quality corporate food sources (look up Sysco), terrible car trapped quality of life, pathetic transit options, overpriced monopolized utilities, poor food, air and water quality regulations ... on and on.

Sorry. I forgot I'm supposed to say "best country in the world" before ICE busts through my door and throws me in the clink for not spouting approved propaganda.

(I'm American and live here - I can call it as I see it)

 

[chmania]

In America we sadly don't have the luxury to be able to think this way. Here it's the hunger games and you better have a plan for your own retirement, healthcare, avoiding expensive low quality corporate food sources (look up Sysco), terrible car trapped quality of life, pathetic transit options, overpriced monopolized utilities, poor food, air and water quality regulations ... on and on.

Sorry. I forgot I'm supposed to say "best country in the world" before ICE busts through my door and throws me in the clink for not spouting approved propaganda.

(I'm American and live here - I can call it as I see it)

I think your Northern neighbour has better options for life.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think your Northern neighbour has better options for life.

Trust me, I've got my eye on it (I'm a dual citizen and could move up there anytime). I just hope they don't absorb too much of the awful ideology currently taking over here.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Wowwwww, you're telling me that if regulators explain what their hopelessly vague law actually requires, then companies can and will comply with it? I'm shocked!

Folks will say, “That’s not how regulation in the EU works!” and then wonder why there’s zero world leading consumer tech companies in the EU.

If Vestager was still there, she’d refuse (as she did) to meet with the companies in an effort to just keep this dragging on and on and keeping her name in the spotlight. As her political designs were crushed, it just left behind a lot of people NOT gunning for a higher political position. So, they’re not against the basic requirement of “letting companies know what would be ok up front”. What comes out of this will make a lot of folks unhappy because Vestager was selling an idea that was never going to happen. In the end, the fee structure will be mixed up, making it more complicated for devs, but Apple will be making pretty much the same profits with ALMOST the same control over any app that gets on the iPhone.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

One could counter argue that it is nice from the EU to even give Apple a chance to talk about it. They could also be like "you didnt follow our law, here is your fine. do better next time"

The folks in place have no incentive to keep this back and forth going. They’re more than happy to just get something that the gatekeepers will adhere to in place and get on to the things that matter to the current officeholders. This was always only Vestager’s fight.

 

[klasma]

The EU needs to stop with their money grabbing overreaching policies and acting like they run the planet

Numbers speak for themselves:

Fact Check: Has the economic gap between Europe and the United States increased in the past decade? | Econofact

econofact.org

Ah, so might makes right?

 

[Naraxus]

In America we sadly don't have the luxury to be able to think this way. Here it's the hunger games and you better have a plan for your own retirement, healthcare, avoiding expensive low quality corporate food sources (look up Sysco), terrible car trapped quality of life, pathetic transit options, overpriced monopolized utilities, poor food, air and water quality regulations ... on and on.

Sorry. I forgot I'm supposed to say "best country in the world" before ICE busts through my door and throws me in the clink for not spouting approved propaganda.

(I'm American and live here - I can call it as I see it)

Sorry but it's not my responsibility to pay for those things for others. Washington is already taxed to high hell and with the current clown in the Gov.'s office that shows no signs of ending.

To be fair however he is marginally better than the ******* who made a complete fool of himself on the taxpayer's dime to run for President on a single issue.

 

[klasma]

The folks in place have no incentive to keep this back and forth going. They’re more than happy to just get something that the gatekeepers will adhere to in place and get on to the things that matter to the current officeholders. This was always only Vestager’s fight.

The latest EC press conferences about this topic give me a different vibe: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/media/video/I-277703

 

[Nekronos]

One could counter argue that it is nice from the EU to even give Apple a chance to talk about it. They could also be like "you didnt follow our law, here is your fine. do better next time"

The irony is the EU is acting as a gatekeeper itself and its fine structure is absolutely bananas - the idea daily fines amounting to 5% global revenue is just insanity, massive overreach.

Calling the EU nice is overly generous, they just using bully tactics to bring companies to the negotiating table - possibly even worse than how Trump has done it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The irony is the EU is acting as a gatekeeper itself and its fine structure is absolutely bananas - the idea daily fines amounting to 5% global revenue is just insanity, massive overreach.

This is the only way to deal with entities the size and scale of Apple.

In the US we see the opposite of this, and penalties are just ignored and written off as the cost of doing business.

 

[Shirasaki]

In America we sadly don't have the luxury to be able to think this way. Here it's the hunger games and you better have a plan for your own retirement, healthcare, avoiding expensive low quality corporate food sources (look up Sysco), terrible car trapped quality of life, pathetic transit options, overpriced monopolized utilities, poor food, air and water quality regulations ... on and on.

Sorry. I forgot I'm supposed to say "best country in the world" before ICE busts through my door and throws me in the clink for not spouting approved propaganda.

(I'm American and live here - I can call it as I see it)

And this cultural gap between MURICA and the rest of the world including EU causes lots of pushbacks and arguments between US and the rest. Apple VS EU is just one of the many high profile Ones. Here in Australia we just passed a landmark social media ban for young folks. This sort of things would never fly in USA, probably because “you are on your own and we don’t give a **** about what happened to you. Apple obviously runs US way, hence issues everywhere else. But for some reason Apple is fighting tooth and nail in EU but comply with China’s demand immediately. I wonder if China is the country spearheading iOS alternative App Store, how US folks are going to think about it.

 

[chmania]

There are many negative comments from Americans about the EU, perhaps because they feel they don't receive enough security and wellbeing from their federal government and states.

 

[turbineseaplane]

There are many negative comments from Americans about the EU, perhaps because they feel they don't receive enough security and wellbeing from their federal government and states.

Additionally a huge chunk of the US population has never left the country and has no idea how bad things actually are at home (for an average, normal, citizen).

The US is an incredible place to be really well off.
Below that, it's a mess where you'll get worked to the nub and hung out to dry.

The incessant jingoism is almost a necessity to keep folks distracted from their very average quality of life (for a first world nation).

 

[cocky jeremy]

In America we sadly don't have the luxury to be able to think this way. Here it's the hunger games and you better have a plan for your own retirement, healthcare

Oh no, people are expected to take responsibility for their own lives. How horrible!

 

[surferfb]

I’m all for a compromise, but I suspect none of us arguing here over the DMA will be happy with the end result.

 

[chmania]

I suspect none of us arguing here over the DMA will be happy with the end result.

That may be true for Americans living in the US, but it doesn't apply to those living in the EU. The EU does not have a federal government, period!

It's a bit funny why Americans living in the US are so concerned about EU regulations.

 

[con2apple]

Wowwwww, you're telling me that if regulators explain what their hopelessly vague law actually requires, then companies can and will comply with it? I'm shocked!

Two things.

First, these regulations are not vague. Even an American can understand them.

Second, Apple is American. So it's no wonder that the company believed it could change the rules by lying. After all, that's normal in the US.