Thanks to the new rules of the European Union, iOS will soon look a lot more like Android. Is that nice or bad? It’s already like that there.
iOS is going to look like Android: we already like it that way
With the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new law of the European Union, large tech companies must adhere to new rules. Apple in particular has to work hard and with iOS 17.4 major adjustments are being made to the operating system.
Google seems to be less affected by the new rules. This has to do with the fact that the Android operating system was much less closed from the start compared to iOS. For example, you will soon be able to download apps from other locations on iOS, while this has long been possible on Android. It is therefore interesting to see how the upcoming changes for iOS are already working out for Android. We’ll dive in.
Apps from other stores
On Android, you can download apps outside the official Play Store. The Play Store is the most secure way to find apps, but you can also download apps from other app stores such as Amazon or other locations.
An advantage, for example, is that you can download apps that are not yet officially available in the Netherlands. The biggest disadvantage is that you are not sure about safety. Every time you install an app outside of the Play Store, you run a greater risk of installing malware.
It also makes users download apps illegally. It is a known fact that Android users are less willing to pay for apps than iPhone users. This may partly have to do with the fact that you can also find paid apps for free somewhere.
Compared to Google, Apple wants to maintain more control to prevent a proliferation of unsafe apps, so the consequences for users and the App Store are probably less serious than on Android.
NFC chip open
Apple will be required to open the NFC chip so that other payment services can also use it. This is already the case on Android.
One fear is that banking apps will soon no longer support Apple Pay, so you will have to open their app before you can make a contactless payment. Several banks also tried this on Android, but it turned out not to be a great success. That is why they now offer support for Google Pay one by one, which is comparable to Apple Pay in use.
Really different browsers
Although you can install browsers other than Safari on iOS, all browsers must run the WebKit browser engine under the hood. The new legislation will soon allow us to actually use completely alternative browsers.
This was already the case on Android and it has advantages and disadvantages. A disadvantage is that not every browser works equally well or uses your battery equally efficiently.
An important advantage is that you can use all the functions that the makers of these browsers offer. Especially if you work on a desktop computer with a browser other than Safari, it is nice to have the same browser with similar functions on your smartphone.
Make more choices
With all those new options on iOS, you will soon have more choices to make. For example, which browser, search engine and soon even which app store you set as default.
On Android, all those choices make it quite a hassle to set up a new Android phone, while on iOS it is (so far) a lot faster. It therefore makes setting up a smartphone less accessible for people who, for example, do not even know what a ‘browser’ is.
Less safe
Apple regularly warns that these changes make iOS less secure. Because of the extra freedom, Android is indeed more unsafe and even more unstable, which means that as a user you have to be a bit smarter and more alert with your smartphone.
This means, for example, that if your browser is not working properly, you choose a different browser instead of blaming the iPhone. This means that you check the provider of an app before downloading it. This will not be a problem for most users, but it will become more difficult for people who are less familiar with digital security.
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