UK Regulator Secures App Store Reforms from Apple and Google

LONDON — Britain's antitrust regulator announced on Tuesday that Apple and Google have committed to reforms aimed at making their mobile app stores more fair and transparent for developers, marking initial steps under a new oversight regime for the tech giants.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) secured these voluntary commitments following its October designation of Apple and Google as holding strategic market status in the UK's smartphone sector. This status grants the regulator enhanced powers to require changes that promote competition. The two companies' operating systems, Apple's iOS and Google's Android, power nearly all smartphones sold in Britain, with their respective app stores — the Apple App Store and Google Play Store — maintaining exclusive or dominant positions on those platforms. The CMA has previously noted that this duopoly allows the firms to impose significant influence over app content, services, and technological innovations, often under terms that include substantial commissions for developers.

Under the agreements, Apple and Google pledged to review and rank apps in a fair, objective, and nondiscriminatory manner, avoiding bias against potential...