By Edith Hancock

Apple said it will delay offering some planned new features to users in the European Union this year because regulations are making it harder to bring them to market in the region.

The company's lawyers said on Monday that tools such as a "visited places" service that tracks and records where users have been won't be rolled out in the EU when it releases its iOS 26 software update later this year.

The iPhone maker has to comply with the Digital Markets Act, a EU law designed to curb the market power of the world's largest technology companies and make it easier for smaller developers to do business online.

Apple has routinely criticized that law, saying it degrades the quality of its products, opens users up to privacy and security risks and makes rolling out new software features in Europe more complicated.

The European Commission told Apple earlier this year what it thinks the company should do to comply with the DMA's rules around interoperability. That included obliging Apple to make it easier for smartwatch and headphone manufacturers to pair their products with Apple devices, improve user experience using that tech alongside an iPhone and give developers more access to Apple's software.

"We've already had to make the decision to delay the release of products and features, we announced this month for our EU customers," Kyle Andeer, Vice President, Apple Legal, told a workshop with EU officials and developers in Brussels. Users' security could be compromised if the company is obliged to open up its ecosystem to competitors, Andeer said.

Apple said it is still analyzing features that may not be available in the EU and working to find solutions to deliver features as quickly as possible.

Andeer also criticized the DMA more broadly, saying that changes the company has had to make to bring its products in line with the rules since last year "create real privacy, security, safety risks to our users."

An EU official at the meeting said the regulator and Apple are divided on the scope of the DMA and on potential security risks.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

By Edith Hancock

Apple said it will delay offering some planned new features to users in the European Union this year because regulations are making it harder to bring them to market in the region.

The company's lawyers said Monday that tools such as an encrypted "visited places" service that tracks and records where users have been won't be rolled out in the EU when it releases its iOS 26 software update later this year.

The iPhone maker has to comply with the Digital Markets Act, a EU law designed to curb the market power of the world's largest technology companies and make it easier for smaller developers to do business online.

Apple has routinely criticized that law, saying it degrades the quality of its products, opens users up to privacy and security risks and makes rolling out new software features in Europe more complicated.

The European Commission told Apple earlier this year what it thinks the company should do to comply with the DMA's rules around interoperability. That included obliging Apple to make it easier for smartwatch and headphone manufacturers to pair their products with Apple devices, improve user experience using that tech alongside an iPhone and give developers more access to Apple's software.

The tech giant said earlier this month it is due to roll out a new operating system update this fall. It said that would include a string of new tools including visited places and a feature in Apple's Maps app that remembers users' travel patterns such as commutes and can suggest alternative routes to avoid delays.

"We've already had to make the decision to delay the release of products and features we announced this month for our EU customers," Kyle Andeer, Vice President, Apple Legal, told a workshop with EU officials and developers in Brussels. Andeer said users' security could be compromised if the company is obliged to open up its ecosystem to competitors.

Apple said it is still analyzing features that may not be available in the EU and working to find solutions to deliver features as quickly as possible.

Andeer also criticized the DMA more broadly, saying that changes the company has had to make to bring its products in line with the rules since last year "create real privacy, security, safety risks to our users."

An EU official at the meeting said the regulator and Apple are divided on the scope of the DMA and on potential security risks.

The DMA sets out a list of do's and don'ts for companies that run hugely popular platforms--from smartphone operating systems to search engines--that smaller players rely on to reach customers in an effort to level the playing field online. Companies can get fined up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover for flouting the rules.

The commission already fined Apple 500 million euros ($586.1 million) in April after it found the company is unfairly impeding app developers from steering users to better offers and deals outside of its own App Store. The tech giant revised its business terms for developers again this month in a bid to bring them in line with the DMA and avoid racking up more periodic fines for non-compliance.

During the Brussels workshop on Monday, a member of campaign group Open Web Advocacy challenged Apple's claims that it prioritizes user security in its App Store when fraudulent apps can and do set up shop. "How can Apple credibly use the system as a defense against third parties who might actually offer more effective safeguards?" he said.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 30, 2025 12:36 ET (16:36 GMT)

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