Last year, Apple announced a range of AI-driven features called Apple Intelligence that included new capabilities such as rewriting emails and summarizing a cluttered inbox. (Image: Reuters)
Apple has agreed to let users in Brazil download and install third-party app stores on iOS devices from 2026 onwards. The iPhone maker has signed off on a Term of Commitment to Termination (TCC) which requires Apple to allow third-party app stores and let developers use external payment systems for in-app purchases, according to a press release from CADE, Brazil’s competition authority.
Apple is also required to ensure that warnings shown to users about installing third-party app stores and making payments through external systems must be neutral in tone and wording. The company is still allowed to charge commissions to developers for in-app purchases, though the details of the fee structure are not clear.
The move is reportedly a part of Apple’s settlement with CADE, marking the end of a years-long legal battle with the regulator. The tech giant has previously argued against opening up iOS to third-party app stores on the grounds that it could compromise the security of the mobile operating system.
Brazil joins a short but growing group of countries that have forced Apple to roll back parts of its long-standing policies that have been strongly criticised as unfair and anti-competitive. Users in Europe and Japan are currently allowed to install third-party app stores on iOS devices. In the United States, Apple has lost several bids to pause reforming its App Store practices ordered by a US district court in the landmark Epic Games lawsuit.
In 2021, a US district court ruled that Apple must allow developers to more easily steer consumers to potentially cheaper non-Apple payment options. Since then, the company has also been ordered to end several practices designed to circumvent the injunction, including a new 27% fee Apple imposed on app developers when its customers complete an app purchase outside the App Store.
The US court also prohibited Apple from restricting where developers place links to make purchases outside of an app. Meanwhile, in Brazil, Apple has been given 105 days to put the changes into place and could face fines of up to R$150 million (about $27 million) if it fails to comply.
“In order to comply with regulatory demands from CADE, Apple is making changes that will impact iOS apps in Brazil. While these changes will open new privacy and security risks to users, we have worked to maintain protections against some threats, including keeping in place important safeguards for younger users,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying by 9to5Mac.
“These safeguards will not eliminate every risk, but they will help ensure that iOS remains the best, most secure mobile platform available in Brazil and we will continue to advocate on behalf of users and developers,” they added.
In November 2025, Apple moved the Delhi High Court, challenging certain provisions of India’s competition law that empower the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to potentially levy fines of up to $38 billion against the tech giant.
The company’s standoff with the country’s antitrust body revolves around the issue of whether the CCI should take a firm’s global turnover into account when calculating penalties for violating India’s competition law. It is the first legal challenge against India’s antitrust penalty law, which was amended last year.
In 2024, the CCI’s investigation unit found that Apple had exploited its dominant position in the apps market. Apple, on the other hand, has denied all charges made by the CCI’s investigation unit in the ongoing antitrust probe.