Apple to Delay Some iOS 26 Features in the EU Over DMA Compliance Concerns

iOS 26, which will be released alongside iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 later this fall, will be missing some features in the EU. Apple justified the delays by the fact that stricter local laws such as the EU’s Digital Markets Act are making it harder for the company to introduce new software features in the region.

“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, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Visited Places in Maps, which will give users the option to let the app remember where they have been, is one of the iOS 26 features that won’t be immediately available in the EU.

Apple is said to be still analyzing iOS 26 features that may need to be disabled at launch in the EU. The company is also actively working on solutions to make these features available for EU users as quickly as possible. Earlier this month, French website Numerama also reported that Apple won’t make its Phone app available on macOS 26 in the EU.

There has been a precedent with iPhone Mirroring on macOS Sequoia, which Apple also disabled in the EU. The same Numerama report explained that Apple believes that there’s a risk the EU starts requiring the company to make its iPhone Mirroring and Phone apps on macOS compatible with Android phones.

Even though the DMA doesn’t list macOS as a “large online platform” that needs to be regulated, that’s the case for iOS, which now supports alternative app stores and browser engines in the EU. To comply with the DMA, Apple is also being forced to make iPhones more interoperable with third-party products, including smartwatches and headphones.

As you can expect, this is something the company isn’t willing to do. Apple’s strategic legal leader said that the DMA’s rules around interoperability “create real privacy, security, safety risks to our users.”