According to AppleInsider, Apple is introducing alternative app stores and payment options for iPhone users in Japan to comply with a new national competition law. The changes are available starting with iOS 26.2, and developers can begin integrating the new options now. Crucially, these alternative marketplaces must be authorized by Apple, and the company is not required to allow app installs directly from the open web. Apple will still apply its notarization process—a baseline security check—to all apps, and platform-level child safety controls like age ratings and parental controls remain in place. The company is explicitly contrasting this “regulated openness” with its implementation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which it claims fragmented oversight and increased risks.
Apple’s Controlled Openness Playbook
Here’s the thing: Apple isn’t just complying with Japan‘s law. It’s using it as a case study for how it wishes all regulation worked. The core of its argument is about maintaining “platform-level accountability.” By requiring alternative app stores to be authorized, and by keeping notarization and parental controls as universal iOS features, Apple gets to stay in the driver’s seat. It’s a world of slightly more choice, but still within Apple’s walled garden—just with a few new, company-approved gates. They’re basically saying, “See? We can allow competition without turning iOS into the wild west.” And they’re pointing to the Mac’s notarization system as the precedent that proves it can work. But let’s be real: this is as much about controlling the narrative as it is about controlling the software.
The Not-So-Subtle EU Critique
Now, the comparison to the EU’s DMA is where Apple’s frustration becomes a feature, not a bug. The company is arguing, pretty bluntly, that Europe got it wrong. In Apple’s telling, the DMA’s requirement to allow web downloads and its alleged lack of distinction between rules for minors and adults created a fragmented, less secure system. Japan’s law, by not mandating web installs and allowing platform-level child protections, gives Apple the framework it wanted all along. This is a strategic PR move. Every time Apple talks about Japan, it’s indirectly criticizing the EU’s approach, hoping other regulators considering similar laws will look at Japan as the “better” model. It’s a savvy, if transparent, bit of regulatory lobbying.
What This Means For Everyone Else
So what’s the trajectory here? Apple is clearly trying to establish a blueprint. The message to other countries is: you can have more app distribution competition without forcing us to relinquish core security and parental controls. Whether that argument flies in other major markets, like the US or UK, remains to be seen. But Apple’s preference is crystal clear. They want to be the gatekeeper of the gatekeepers. For users in Japan, you’ll get more places to potentially download apps, but you won’t see a fundamental shift in how iOS feels. The App Store is still the main event; these authorized alternatives are side stages. And for developers, it’s another set of region-specific rules to navigate. The global app ecosystem isn’t getting simpler—it’s just getting more complicated in new, geographically distinct ways.
