EU Commission May Give Apple Maps and Ads Gatekeeper Status Under DMA

The European Commission announced yesterday that it will soon determine if two new Apple services need to comply with the Digital Markets Act, a landmark EU regulation imposing new rules on platforms designated as “gatekeepers.” The regulator said that it has been notified by Apple that its Maps and Ads services now meet the Digital Markets Act (DMA) thresholds.

Apple is one of the six gatekeepers designated as gatekeepers under the DMA, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. Apple currently has four core platform services that have 45 million monthly active users and 10 000 yearly business users in each of the last three financial years: These are iOS, iPadOS, the App Store, and Safari.

The EU Commission has 45 days to determine whether Apple Maps and Apple Ads are also core platform services that need to be regulated under the DMA. In a statement shared with Reuters today, Apple said that its Ads service has “minimal share” compared to companies such as Google, Meta, or TikTok. Regarding Apple Maps, the company also said that it has “very limited usage” compared to Google Maps and Waze, adding that it lacks features allowing business users to directly connect to consumers.

If the EU Commission gives Apple Maps and Ads the core platform service status under the DMA, Apple will have six months to comply with the law’s requirements. It’s not exactly clear how this would impact users of Apple devices in the EU, however.

Earlier this year, Apple introduced a new default navigation app choice on iOS 18.4, but only in the EU. To comply with the DMA, Apple previously allowed alternative app stores for iOS and iPadOS users in the EU, and it also allowed these users to change default apps for phone calls, messaging, translations, and contactless transactions.