As promised, users in the EU will be able to better manage their default apps with a new settings page in iOS 18.2.
‘Default Apps’ Section Makes its Debut with iOS 18.2, Not Just in the EU but Everywhere Around the World
This feature was promised quite a while back by Apple. Now that it’s here with iOS 18.2 beta, it’s definitely a welcome change. However, there is an interesting surprise here for everyone as this feature is not available just for those living in the EU.
It is available for everyone around the world, but users in the EU get far more flexibility when it comes to choosing default apps.
In the EU, users can completely get rid of apps like Messages and replace them with an alternative from the App Store or third-party store of their choice. You can even ‘delete’ the App Store and have a third-party installed on the iPhone instead, too.
Outside the EU, users get the following settings to play around with: Email, Messaging, Calling, Call Filtering, Browser App, Passwords & Codes and Keyboards. If there’s an alternative available for these apps, you can set them as default from this section.
It remains to be seen if the Default Apps section in iOS 18.2 sticks around worldwide in the upcoming betas. Chances are, it just may since iOS and iPadOS does give people flexibility to choose a default app for things like email and browser. Having a dedicated section to control this makes perfect sense.
But, will Apple go a mile further and allow everyone around the world EU-style flexibility? It just may, or it may not.
