Apple has announced iOS 26, but not all functions come to the European Union. Unfortunately we have to miss this feature here.
iOS 26
This year iOS 26 is the update for the iPhone. Apple has unveiled a new interface for the operating system, in which many more glasses and transparent elements return through Liquid Glass. In addition, many new functions come to the iPhone and a number of Apple applications will receive an adapted layout. Unfortunately, in the Netherlands and Belgium, we cannot use all new functions of iOS 26, because they are not available in the European Union.
Kyle Andere, vice president at Apple in the field of legal affairs, has since confirmed that not all functions of iOS 26 will work in the EU. According to him, that is the result of European legislation. Apple has to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, but the company has recently given a lot of resistance to the law. According to Apple, it is more difficult to release updates through the complicated European regulations. The result is that the company needs more time to adjust functions, so that we will miss a number of iOS 26 parts.
Apple cards
One of those functions is ‘visited places’ in Apple cards. The navigation service remembers the places you have visited before from iOS 26. For example, Apple tickets registers the restaurants and shops where you have been before, which you see in a list of recently visited places. These places are divided into categories, so that you can easily find them. Apple has confirmed that this function of iOS 26 (for the time being) is not available in the EU.
It is striking that Apple chooses to roll out visited places here later. With the announcement of the iOS 26 function, Apple emphasized that the privacy of users is guaranteed. All data is encrypted end-to-end, so even Apple cannot view the information. According to Apple, it is unclear how this function of iOS 26 does not yet meet the regulations in the EU.
Possibly more iOS 26 functions
Incidentally, there is a good chance that it will not stay with this part of iOS 26. According to Ander, Apple is currently investigating which functions of iOS 26 are and are not immediately available in the EU. It is not the first time that European users have to wait (much) longer for features. For example, Apple Intelligence is still not available in the Netherlands and Belgium and iPhone Mirroring cannot be used even throughout Europe.
In the coming months it will become clear which functions of iOS 26 will be immediately available in the EU. Apple releases the update in September, after the announcement of the iPhone 17. It is expected that iOS 26 September 15, 2025 is released. Are you curious if your iPhone has support for the update? Read here which iPhones can update to the latest software version in September!
Download the iPhoned app
