Apple has announced a number of other changes to its App Store and iPhone policies in the European Union. This time, Apple is expanding the standard app controls, making additional first-party apps deleteable, and updating the browser selection screen.

Browser selection screen

Apple added the browser selection screen in the EU earlier this year, giving users the option to choose their default browser when they first open Safari after updating their iPhone to iOS 17.4. With an update later this year, Apple has planned more changes for the browser selection screen on iPhone and iPad:

• All users who have Safari as their default browser, including those who already saw the choice screen before the update, will see the choice screen the first time they launch Safari after installing the update, which will be available later this year.
• The selection screen will not appear if a user has already set a browser other than Safari as the default.
• The selection screen appears once per device instead of once per user.
• When migrating to a new device, if (and only if) the previously selected default browser was Safari, the user must select a new default browser (i.e., unlike other settings in iOS, the user’s choice for the default browser will not be migrated if that choice was Safari).

There will also be changes to the design of the browser selection screen:

• Users can select their default browser directly on the selection screen by tapping the desired browser, without displaying descriptive information about that browser on the App Store product page.
• Browser descriptions on the selection screen include the app subtitle from the browser’s App Store product page.
• Users can check each browser’s App Store product page by tapping the chevron on the right.
• Users must scroll through the full list of browser options before they can set a browser as default.
• If the selected default browser is already on the device, it will open automatically.
• If the selected default browser is not yet downloaded to the device, the selection screen will display the download progress of the selected browser before it opens automatically.
• If Safari is currently in the user’s Dock or on the first page of the Home screen and the user selects a browser on the selection screen that is not currently installed on their device, the selected browser will replace the Safari icon in the user’s Dock or on the Home screen.
• Choice screen browser developers have access to a new dataset about their choice screen browser performance, available via an API in App Store Connect. This data includes items such as choice screen selection rates and default selection information.

Default app changes

In addition to changes to the browser’s default rules and design, Apple is also updating the default settings of other apps. First, a future update to iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will add a new “Default Apps” section to the Settings app, where users can manage their default settings.

Currently, users in the EU can set defaults for their browser, Mail app, app marketplace and contactless apps. Apple will expand these options later this year and allow users to set defaults for phone calls, messages, password managers, keyboards and call spam filters.

Finally, according to Apple, iOS and iPadOS will add support for setting defaults for navigation apps and translations in spring 2025.

Deletable apps

And last but not least, Apple will also give users the ability to delete the App Store, as well as the Messages, Camera, Photos, and Safari apps, with a software update later this year.