Apple has confirmed that iPad owners in the European Union can download and install apps from alternative app stores beginning September 16.

“Users in the EU can download iPadOS apps on the App Store and through alternative distribution,” Apple explained. People can install an app directly from the official website (so-called sideloading) provided the developer has opted into Apple’s Web Distribution method.

Other app stores may offer their storefront app for browsing, downloading, and installing apps. The company has updated its App Review Guidelines to clarify that developers in the EU “can also distribute notarized iOS and iPadOS apps from alternative app marketplaces and directly from their website.”

Apple also reiterated that iPadOS browsers distributed in the EU can now implement custom engines. For example, Google can now create a version of Chrome for iPad based on Google’s Blink rendering engine. Before this change, all third-party browsers on the App Store were required to use the WebKit engine that Apple’s Safari browser relies on.

This change was forced upon Apple by the European Commission, and the company begrudgingly agreed to allow alternative app stores in the European Union to comply with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation.

Earlier, the Commission designated iPadOS a gatekeeper platform despite not meeting the DMA’s quantitative thresholds. The Commission wrote in April 2024 that iPadOS “constitutes an important gateway for business users to reach end users and therefore should be designated as a gatekeeper.”

iOS was designated as a gatekeeper platform earlier this year, paving the way for alternative app stores for EU iPhone users. There are currently five third-party app stores on the iPhone in the EU, but they don’t seem to be thriving yet. For example, the AltStore PAL alternative marketplace doesn’t host any apps besides the popular Nintendo emulator Delta, the virtual machine app UTM, and a torrenting client.

Setapp Mobile offers access to dozens of apps not available on Apple’s App Store in exchange for a flat monthly fee. The Epic Games Store launched with Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League Sideswipe. Those app stores mostly carry apps created by developers that run the store. For instance, Epic Games will need to convince creators of popular games to bypass the App Store and distribute games through the Epic Games Store.

Source: Apple