Apple Denies Evidence of Hiding Browser Choice Setting
Apple faces allegations of misleading the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over a user interface issue in iOS related to changing the default browser, Open Web Advocacy reports.
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Now, in a formal response to the CMA, Apple has denied that this issue ever existed.
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Apple has not provided an explanation for how its claim in the August response aligns with these findings, leaving open the question of whether the company's internal processes failed to verify the accuracy of its statements or whether it is actively attempting to minimize the situation.
The only realistic interpretation is that statements made by the CMA and OWA on this topic are “not correct” or false. That is, at the time either OWA or the CMA’s statements were written, Apple was not employing a deceptive pattern to hide the option to switch default browser if Safari was the default. This is certainly a bold claim given this was independently verified by us, ArsTechnica and the CMA. This verification included screenshots, documents and a video of the whole process. Apple presumably also retains copies of the original code that implement this “functionality” and can easily replicate the issue.
Why didn’t Apple just say that it was a bug and that they fixed it?
Previously:
- iOS 18: Browser Choice and Default App Controls in EU
- Effects of the DMA’s Browser Choice Requirement
- DMA Compliance: Default App Controls and NFC
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I have talked to a person with first hand experience of Apple lawyers, and they told me the Apple lawyers were way too cocky for their own good. Openly ignoring obvious transgressions with a shrug and a "We don't care about that"
Why would they say it was a bug? They're Apple.
