Apple has announced it will allow iPad apps to be sold via third-party app stores in the European Union from Monday, September 16, coinciding with the release of iPadOS 18.
The move follows Apple's tolerance in the bloc for alternative app stores on iPhones, which happened earlier this year in compliance with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple's iPad operating system was designated by the European Commission as a "core platform service" in April under the rules of the DMA, joining iOS, the App Store, and Safari.
Although iPadOS user numbers fell below the threshold for inclusion under the DMA, the Commission retains some flexibility in its designations and noted significant lock-in effects, especially for business users. The Commission gave Apple six months to update iPadOS and make it compliant with the DMA. Apple later confirmed that it would bring all of the app ecosystem changes made to iOS in the European Union to iPadOS in the fall.
After installing iPadOS 18, iPad users in the EU will be able to install alternative app stores, while developers will be able to release alternative browsers based on their own browser engines, instead of Apple's WebKit.
Currently there are a handful of third-party app marketplaces available to iPhone users in the EU. One of them, Epic Games, has already said that it plans to bring Fortnite and its other games to iPad. Other enforced changes include allowing users to delete Apple's pre-loaded apps, and choose alternative default apps, including browsers.
