It’s a bad look for Apple to spend billions developing the iPhone and then more money to develop products that work the best with it? Why in the world shouldn’t Apple get to benefit from being the iPhone creator?! That’s the whole point of vertically integrated products! Of COURSE Apple devices get access to better integration with other Apple products! It’s the same way a Sony TV and a Sony AV Reciever and Sony speakers can be designed to work better together. Or why the Xbox and Windows can work better together. Or how Googles various devices and services work better together! There is nothing inherent bad OR illegal about having a competitive advantage! You might be shocked to learn it’s a thing that happens all the time and is quite legal. For example, if you stay at a Disney owned hotel you can get special privileges at Disney resorts, such as early entry, extra fast passes, guaranteed tickets, etc. This has been happening for decades! It’s one of the advantages of staying at a Disney hotel AND why Disney hotels are often more expensive. Other hotels who want to compete have to do so by offering other advantages such as cheaper rates, discounts on other things, different benefits such as free meals, etc. Those other hotels are primarily dependent on Disney for their business. If, for some reason, Disneyland were to permanently shut down they’d be severely impacted as a result. They take that risk because they think the odds are in their favor. Tile took a risk, as all businesses do. If they didn’t want to worry about what Apple might or might not do, they need to diversify, i.e. not make their products and success dependent on a single source OR eliminate that dependency by making their product independent of whatever Apple does.
Competitive advantage only becomes illegal under specific circumstances, such as a monopoly (which again, the iPhone is not). Tile doesn’t have some inherent right to be on a level playing field with Apple. They are experiencing the inherent risk of making your product dependent on another. That risk is one reason why Apple has tried to reduce as much of ITS dependence on outside sources as possible.
If Tile wants to compete it can do so in a variety of ways. It can make its products cheaper than Apples. It can offer additional features that Apple doesn’t. It can make its experience superior to Apples in some ways. Otherwise, it can fail. Failure in business is a thing that happens. Apple shouldn’t be hamstrung simply for being successful and making a better product.