Since the iPhone’s release in 2007 and the subsequent launch of the App Store in 2008, Apple has placed a strict stanglehold on the apps its users can use on its devices, especially with respect to pre-installed apps like Safari and Mail. Now, according to sources, Apple is considering opening up its app landscape to rival apps after criticism is had a bias toward in-house products.
The report comes out of Bloomberg this morning, as the Cupertino company suggests making radical changes to its preferred apps. Bloomberg reports, “if a user clicks a web link sent to them on an iPhone, it will automatically open in Safari. Similarly, if a user taps an email address — say, from a text message or a website — they’ll be sent to the Apple Mail app with no option to switch to another email program.”
That could change if Apple is giving serious consideration to consumers’ and app developers’ complaints. Every year, the number of Apple default apps continues to rise, now reaching 38 default apps on iPhones and iPads, including the Safari web browser, Maps, Messages and Mail. 
Final decisions have yet to be made, though Bloomberg contends that, if Apple chooses to go forward with the moves, these changes “could appear as soon as later this year via the upcoming iOS 14 software update and a corresponding HomePod software update.”
Photo via PC Mag
