{"id":47138,"date":"2025-03-19T15:18:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T19:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=47138"},"modified":"2025-03-25T09:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T13:08:12","slug":"dma-compliance-watch-and-headphone-interoperability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/19\/dma-compliance-watch-and-headphone-interoperability\/","title":{"rendered":"DMA Compliance: Watch and Headphone Interoperability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2025\/03\/19\/eu-order-apple-interoperability\/\">Benjamin Mayo<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=43413426\">Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2025\/03\/19\/eu-order-apple-interoperability\/\"><p>The EU has followed up on its Digital Markets Act specification procedures for Apple regarding the iPhone&rsquo;s interoperability with third-party connected devices like smartwatches and headphones, <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2024\/09\/19\/eu-apple-iphone-third-party-watch-accessories\/\">as announced last fall<\/a>. <\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/ip_25_816\">Today&rsquo;s announcement<\/a> details exactly what third-party integrations the EU commission expects Apple to implement. This includes giving third-party devices access to iOS notifications, as well as way for companies to make like-for-like competitors to AirDrop file sharing, AirPlay streaming, and much more. <\/p><p>The list of features that the EU commission has ordered Apple to implement is vast, as well as signalling that any future Apple features with first-party hardware integrations must also be made available to third-party companies.<\/p><p>[&#8230;]<\/p><p>Headphone makers will be given access to system features that support AirPods, like proximity auto-pairing and automatic audio switching.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2025\/03\/19\/apple-eu-interoperability-bad-for-products-users\/\">Tim Hardwick<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2025\/03\/19\/apple-eu-interoperability-bad-for-products-users\/\"><p>&ldquo;Today&rsquo;s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple&rsquo;s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don&rsquo;t have to play by the same rules,&rdquo; said Apple in a statement given to MacRumors. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users.&rdquo;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@amyworrall\/114190421400972534\">Amy Worrall<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@amyworrall\/114190421400972534\"><p>&ldquo;Europe forces Apple to compete by actually innovating, rather than holding back competitors through their monopoly&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t make as good a sound bite, I guess.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/19\/apple-restricts-pebble-from-being-awesome-with-iphones\/\">Apple Restricts Pebble From Being Awesome With iPhones<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/14\/dma-compliance-default-maps-app-in-eu\/\">DMA Compliance: Default Maps App in EU<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/23\/metas-ios-interoperability-requests\/\">Meta&rsquo;s iOS Interoperability Requests<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/30\/european-commission-specification-proceedings\/\">European Commission Specification Proceedings<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/26\/dma-compliance-interoperability-requests\/\">DMA Compliance: Interoperability Requests<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p id=\"dma-compliance-watch-and-headphone-interoperability-update-2025-03-24\">Update (2025-03-24): See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=43421740\">Hacker News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/iosdev.space\/@adam\/114191134700271579\">Adam Overholtzer<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/iosdev.space\/@adam\/114191134700271579\">\n<p>Why should Apple, a platform maker, have to do all the work of making a platform?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/linked\/2025\/03\/19\/eu-apple-interop-requirements\">John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/linked\/2025\/03\/19\/eu-apple-interop-requirements\">\n<p>My interpretation of the adopted decision is that the EU is requiring Apple to treat iOS like a PC operating system, like MacOS or Windows, where users can install third-party software that runs, unfettered, in the background.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pxlnv.com\/linklog\/apple-third-party-hardware-restrictions\/\">Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/pxlnv.com\/linklog\/apple-third-party-hardware-restrictions\/\">\n<p>There is a free market argument that can be made about how Apple gets to design its own ecosystem and, if it is so restrictive, people will be more hesitant to buy an iPhone since they can get more choices with an Android phone. I get that. But I think it is unfortunate so much of our life coalesces around devices which are so restrictive compared to those which came before.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>The iPhone repositioned that in two ways. First, the introduction of iCloud was a way to &ldquo;demote&rdquo; the Mac to a device at an equivalent level to everything else. Second, and just as importantly, is how it converged all that third-party hardware into a single device: it is the digital camera, the camcorder, and the music player. As a result, its hub-iness comes mostly in the form of software. If a developer can assume the existence of particular hardware components, they have extraordinary latitude to build on top of that. However, because Apple exercises control over this software ecosystem, it limits its breadth.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Even if you believe Apple is doing this not out of anticompetitive verve, but instead for reasons of privacy, security, API support, and any number of other qualities, it still sucks. What it means is that Apple is mostly competing against itself, particularly in smartwatches.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/take.surf\/2025\/03\/19\/bad-for-our-users\">Jesper<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/take.surf\/2025\/03\/19\/bad-for-our-users\"><p>It&rsquo;s <a href=\"\/2025\/03\/13\/michael-tsai-rotten\">like I said<\/a>. What matters to Apple isn&rsquo;t the products. What&rsquo;s matters to Apple&#8230; is Apple.<\/p><p>[&#8230;]<\/p><p>Then they should make it a standard, document it and build it in, because that&rsquo;s what it means to be a platform. That&rsquo;s what it means to care for and about the user. That&rsquo;s what it means to be a technology company working not for technology&rsquo;s sake, but for the betterment of the world.<\/p><p>But they sat on their hands and acted like a monopoly. They let sales and marketing make product decisions. They listened to users and developers ask for the same thing more evenly distributed, and they called them names, or dismissed their wishes as lunacy.<\/p><p>[&#8230;]<\/p><p>As a user, I would have preferred that Apple would just have done the right thing from the beginning. As a user, I do not prefer that this is what happened. Much like, as a user, I do not prefer that car manufacturers are legally held to emission standards, or that factories are forced by regulation instead of driven by ideals to not pollute &#x2013; or that governmental agencies step in, in the face of monopolistic practices screwing the customer. The world would be much better if there would have to be no intervention at all. Compliance is seldom as passionate and genuine as drive and goals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"dma-compliance-watch-and-headphone-interoperability-update-2025-03-25\">Update (2025-03-25): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/633765\/ios-eu-interoperability-smartwatches-headphones\">Victoria Song<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/633765\/ios-eu-interoperability-smartwatches-headphones\"><p>For years, I&rsquo;d ask device makers why this feature wasn&rsquo;t available. Every single time, from companies large and small, the answer was that Apple didn&rsquo;t allow it. So, I was hardly surprised when Android smartwatch makers started kissing iOS goodbye in 2021 with Wear OS 3. In the years since, the number of platform-agnostic wearable makers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/1\/26\/24052275\/fossil-quitting-smartwatches-android-wear-os\">continues to dwindle<\/a>.<\/p><p>This is a big reason why it&rsquo;s a good thing that the European Commission recently gave Apple marching orders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/632718\/europe-digital-markets-act-apple-interoperability-smartwatches\">to open up iOS interoperability<\/a> to other gadget makers. You can read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/633493\/apple-ios-eu-dma-iphone-interoperability-requirements\">our explainer<\/a> on the nitty gritty of what this means, but the gist is that it&rsquo;s going to be harder for Apple to gatekeep iOS features to its own products. Specific<\/p><p>[&#8230;]<\/p><p>These days, I receive far more queries about smart rings and smart glasses &mdash; because everyone knows that if you have an iPhone, you get an Apple Watch, and if you have an Android, you get a Galaxy Watch or a Pixel Watch. (Maybe a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/24132998\/one-plus-watch-2-review-smartwatches-wearables\">OnePlus Watch 2<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/hands-on\/612965\/oneplus-watch-3-hands-on-smartwatch-wearables\">3<\/a> if you really care about battery.) If you&rsquo;re an endurance athlete, you get a Garmin. There&rsquo;s not much incentive for any of these companies to zhuzh up designs or think out of the box when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/3\/22\/24107984\/apple-watch-smartwatch-ecosystems\">ecosystem lock-in all but ensures they don&rsquo;t have to<\/a>. There&rsquo;s no urgency. The result is smartwatches have become boring as we wait for the next Big Health Feature to get FDA clearance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.macstories.net\/linked\/opening-ios-is-good-news-for-smartwatches\/\">Federico Viticci<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.macstories.net\/linked\/opening-ios-is-good-news-for-smartwatches\/\">\n<p>Can you imagine if your expensive Mac desktop had, say, some latency if you decided to enter text with a non-Apple keyboard? Or if the USB-C port only worked with proprietary Apple accessories? Clearly, those restrictions would be absurd on computers that cost thousands of dollars. And yet, similar restrictions have long existed on iPhones and the iOS ecosystem, and it&rsquo;s time to put an end to them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Benjamin Mayo (Hacker News): The EU has followed up on its Digital Markets Act specification procedures for Apple regarding the iPhone&rsquo;s interoperability with third-party connected devices like smartwatches and headphones, as announced last fall. Today&rsquo;s announcement details exactly what third-party integrations the EU commission expects Apple to implement. This includes giving third-party devices access to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-03-19T19:18:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"db38eb18-c7f5-4e8a-a1a7-68885b9b77f6","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-03-25T13:08:15Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A2zjrGMf1Toqhp2iIW5t39g","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1003,1198,1422,2085,2570,1927,31,2586,111],"class_list":["post-47138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-airdrop","tag-airplane","tag-airpods","tag-antitrust","tag-digital-markets-act-dma","tag-european-union","tag-ios","tag-ios-18","tag-notificationcenter"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47138"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47182,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47138\/revisions\/47182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}