UK Watchdog Secures Apple, Google Commitments to Reform App Store Practices

The UK’s competition watchdog said on Feb. 10 it had secured commitments from Apple and Google to make their app store practices fairer and more transparent, with Apple also committing to open up its mobile systems to greater interoperability, marking the first reforms under the country’s new digital markets regime.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that the measure would bring “immediate improvements in certainty, transparency, and fairness” for thousands of UK businesses that rely on app stores to reach customers.

Apple and Google have agreed to review apps submitted to their app stores and ensure that ranking processes are fair and objective, without favoring their own products over those of third-party developers.

The companies also agreed to safeguard data gathered from developers during the app-review process and not use that data unfairly. The CMA noted that concerns had been raised during its investigation about how platform operators could potentially leverage such data.

The watchdog said that if either company failed to implement the commitments effectively, it would “move swiftly” to impose formal conduct requirements under its statutory powers.

The development follows CMA’s October 2025 decision to designate Apple and Google’s mobile platforms with strategic market status, or SMS, under Britain’s digital markets competition regime.

This allowed the regulator to impose targeted measures to ensure fair dealing, open choices, and greater transparency in digital markets.

CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said the ability to secure immediate commitments from Apple and Google reflects the “unique flexibility of the UK digital markets competition regime.”

Operating Systems

A key element of the package applies specifically to Apple’s mobile operating systems. The CMA said Apple had committed to enabling developers to more easily request interoperable access to features and functionality within iOS and iPadOS.

In October, the CMA found that Apple and Google’s mobile platforms effectively formed a duopoly, with around 90–100 percent of UK mobile devices running on one of the two systems.

“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 [financial technology] sector, and potentially supporting the roll out of digital IDs,” Cardell said.

The regulator has said that granting SMS status does not mean the companies have acted anti-competitively, but reflects what it sees as substantial and entrenched market power.

Google said in a Feb. 10 statement that while the company believes the Google Play existing developer practices are fair, objective, and transparent, it welcomes the opportunity to work with the CMA.

“We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA on behalf of developers, device manufacturers, and Android users worldwide,” the company said.

The Epoch Times reached out to Apple for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The CMA said it would closely monitor how Apple and Google implement the commitments and would publish reports on compliance. The regulator expects the measures to take effect from April 1, subject to consultation.

As of 2025, mobile development in the United Kingdom was valued at 28 billion pounds ($38.3 billion), according to the CMA. The broader app economy generates an estimated 1.5 percent of gross domestic product and supports around 400,000 jobs.