Apple will allow iPhone users in the European Union to download apps from websites, instead of through an App Store, as it adheres to the latest change in the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
However, developers will still have to keep to Apple’s strict rules around security protections and how apps are distributed through websites.
“Apps offered through Web Distribution must meet Notarisation requirements to protect platform integrity, like all iOS apps, and can only be installed from a website domain that the developer has registered in App Store Connect,” said Apple, also confirming that it will authorise developers after meeting specific criteria and committing to ongoing requirements that help protect users.
Developers must be part of Apple’s Developer Program and be registered in the EU.
New developers or those who didn’t achieve least a million downloads in the EU last year will not be eligible.
To qualify, a developer must be “a member of good standing in the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more, and have an app that had more than one million first annual installs on iOS in the EU in the prior calendar year,” Apple said.
The new web distribution feature is expected to be available with a software update in Q2 of this year.
