European iPad users can download from third-party app stores next week

Apple had six months to ensure iPadOS was compliant with DMA obligations, which include allowing users in the EU to download apps from outside of the Apple App Store, uninstall preloaded iPad apps, and choose their own default apps like browsers. It also opens up iPadOS, like iOS, to apps that use alternative browser engines other than WebKit, but we’re still waiting on that.

The iPhone maker initially argued that iPadOS didn’t meet the required user threshold for the DMA, but it was nonetheless determined to be an “important gateway on which many companies rely to reach their customers,” according to EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.