Under UK pressure, Apple and Google agree to change app store rules

Apple and Google have promised to be more transparent about how they approve and sort apps, and to ensure they're not favoring their own applications.

That’s what both tech companies and the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have agreed.

Last year, the competition watchdog assigned both Apple and Google a so-called strategic market status (SMS) due to their dominance in the mobile platform market. This would give the British regulator greater power to intervene in companies’ services to stimulate competition, increase innovation, and boost economic growth.

The CMA has since worked with Apple and Google to address the competition supervisor's concerns.

Apple and Google have agreed to improve fairness in their app store processes and to enhance interoperability. Specifically, the American tech companies have committed to making sure that apps are distributed in a “fair, objective, and transparent” way that doesn’t include preferential treatment for their own apps.

In addition, both companies have promised to rank apps more fairly, meaning that the ranking won’t discriminate against apps that compete with their own. Apple and Google will safeguard the app data they gather from developers in the course of app review and will not use this data to improve their own apps.

Lastly, Apple will make it easier for companies to ask for interoperability within iOS. This will give them more clarity on how they can offer innovative products and services to UK customers.

“The ability to secure immediate commitments from Apple and Google reflects the unique flexibility of the UK digital markets competition regime and offers a practical route to swiftly address the concerns we’ve identified,” Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, said in a statement.

“These are important first steps while we continue to work on a broad range of additional measures to improve Apple and Google’s app store services in the UK, for example, by enabling more choice and innovation in digital wallets, boosting the UK’s fintech sector, and potentially supporting the roll-out of digital IDs,” she continued.

The commitments are subject to monitoring and reporting to ensure compliance, and will take effect from April 1st, 2026. Should Apple or Google fail to deliver on their promises, the CMA will impose so-called “conduct requirements.”

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