MacRumors

Apple today seeded the third betas of upcoming iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming two weeks after the release of the second beta.

Developers can download iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6 through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

We don't yet know what might be introduced in iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6, as Apple has now implemented all of the features that were announced as coming in the iOS and iPadOS 15 updates, and work on iOS 15 is likely winding down with iOS 16 approaching.

There were no new features discovered in the first two betas of iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6, suggesting these are updates focusing on bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements.

iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6 could be some of the last updates to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 as Apple is now working on iOS 16, which is set to be released this fall.

Apple has also seeded new developer betas of tvOS 15.6 and watchOS 8.7.

Last week, well-connected display industry analyst Ross Young said he confirmed with his supply chain sources that Apple is planning a new 14.1-inch iPad Pro, but he has since revised his prediction and now believes the device may be a standard iPad after all.

In a tweet shared with his Super Followers today, Young said he confirmed that the 14-inch iPad will not have a mini-LED display after all. He also said the 14-inch iPad is unlikely to feature ProMotion, leading him to believe that the device may not be branded as an iPad Pro, given that all iPad Pro models released since 2017 feature ProMotion.

It sounds rather odd that Apple's largest iPad would not be a Pro model, but Young has accurately revealed many details about future Apple products, so we'll have to see how this rumor plays out. Apple will likely release the iPad in the first quarter of 2023, he said.

In another tweet shared with his Super Followers today, Young reiterated that the next 11-inch iPad Pro is not expected to feature mini-LED backlighting, despite the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro adopting the technology in April 2021. Apple is expected to update both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the M2 chip and more later this year.

Apple today announced a partnership with Major League Soccer that will see every single MLS match streamed through the Apple TV app for the next 10 years, with the deal to kick off in 2023.

Soccer fans will be able to stream every live match, with no local blackouts or restrictions of any kind. It will include access to all MLS and League Cup games, along with select MLS Next Pro and MLS Next matches.

"For the first time in the history of sports, fans will be able to access everything from a major professional sports league in one place," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Services. "It's a dream come true for MLS fans, soccer fans, and anyone who loves sports. No fragmentation, no frustration -- just the flexibility to sign up for one convenient service that gives you everything MLS, anywhere and anytime you want to watch. We can't wait to make it easy for even more people to fall in love with MLS and root for their favorite club."

Apple will provide access to MLS matches through a new MLS streaming service that will be exclusively available through the ‌Apple TV‌ app. Along with all matches, it will include a weekly live match whip-around show and game replays, highlights, analysis, and in-depth behind-the-scenes views of players and clubs.

A selection of MLS and League Cup matches will be available at no additional cost to ‌Apple TV‌+ subscribers, with a limited number of matches available for free. The new MLS streaming service will be included as part of MLS full-season ticket packages.

MLS live and on-demand content on the ‌Apple TV‌ app will be available on all Apple devices, along with smart TVs from companies like Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic, and Vizio. The ‌Apple TV‌ app can also be accessed on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast with Google TV, Comcast Xfinity, PlayStation, and Xbox. Customers without a device that supports the ‌Apple TV‌ app can watch on the web.

When the service launches, all MLS and Leagues Cup matches will include announcers calling the action in English and Spanish, and all matches involving Canadian teams will be available in French. Additional details on the service, such as subscription pricing, programming information, and when fans can sign up will be announced in the coming months.

Apple says that the deal is a "historic first" for a major professional sports league, and it will last through 2032. In an effort to ramp up its sports offerings, Apple has already established a deal with Major League Baseball, and rumors suggest that it is pursuing the National Football League's Sunday Ticket package.

Apple today announced that the new 13-inch MacBook Pro equipped with the M2 chip will be available to order worldwide starting Friday, June 17 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple said deliveries to customers and in-store availability will begin Friday, June 24.

Apple had previously said the new 13-inch MacBook Pro would be available in July, so orders are running ahead of schedule. Customers will be able to place an order via Apple.com, the Apple Store app, or through select Apple Authorized Resellers.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro features the same design as the previous model, including the Touch Bar, with the only notable change being the addition of the M2 chip. Pricing starts at $1,299 in the United States, with silver and space gray color options.

Apple said the M2 chip has an 18% faster CPU, a 35% faster GPU, and a 40% faster Neural Engine compared to the M1 chip. With the M2 chip, the 13-inch MacBook Pro can be configured with up to 24GB of unified memory, whereas the M1 chip maxes out at 16GB of memory. The notebook can also be equipped with up to 2TB of SSD storage.

Apple did not provide an order date for the new MacBook Air with the M2 chip, which remains listed as "available next month" on Apple's website.

While the new 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models are both equipped with the M2 chip, one notable difference between the notebooks is that the MacBook Pro features an active cooling system to ensure sustained performance for those with "more demanding workflows," according to Apple, whereas the MacBook Air has a fanless design.

Adobe today updated its Lightroom apps for Mac and iOS, bringing a set of new image editing features as well as the ability to edit video for the first time.

With the release of version 5.4 for Mac and 7.4 for iOS, Lightroom now enables you to edit videos using the same controls that are used for photos. You can trim videos, adjust color and exposure, and apply presets optimized for video.

Meanwhile, Adobe has added a new class of AI-powered adaptive presets that allow you to perform one-click edits to the sky or subject in photos, while a new Preset Amount Slider gives you the ability to control the intensity of a preset.

Elsewhere, there's a new Red Eye Removal feature that automatically finds and removes red eyes with a single click, and a new Compare view lets you compare photos side-by-side.

There are also more than 50 new, handcrafted premium presets designed for videos, portraits, and live concert photos, and the community-based Discover section is now searchable, allowing you to more easily find topics of interest as well as photographers you'd like to follow.

Also new in this version is a new Invert Mask option that lets you invert masks at both the group and component levels, and you can also now choose to Duplicate & Invert masks.

In addition, the Select Sky and Select Subject AI masks can now be copied and pasted to other photos and they will be recomputed automatically, so there's no need to manually apply the new masks to each photo.

Lightroom for Mac is available through Adobe's Creative Cloud 1TB Lightroom plan for $9.99 per month, or through its 20GB and 1TB Photography plans, which bundle Photoshop and Lightroom together and cost $9.99 and $19.99 per month, respectively.

Lightroom for iPhone and iPad can be downloaded from the App Store for free and include several in-app premium storage subscription options starting from $1.99 per month for 40GB.

Mozilla today announced that it is rolling out Total Cookie Protection by default to all Firefox users worldwide, expanding on prior releases that included the Total Cookie Protection feature on an opt-in basis.

To use Total Cookie Protection prior to now, Firefox users could opt in to the Strict Tracking Protection feature, but it was not turned on for all users as a default setting. Mozilla has been testing Total Cookie Protection in Firefox for months with the opt-in functionality prior to rolling it out for everyone.

Total Cookie Protection is designed to prevent trackers from using cookies to track user browsing history across different websites.

According to Mozilla, the feature "builds a fence around cookies," and limits them to the site that you're browsing, preventing cross-site tracking. Firefox says that the Total Cookie Protection feature leaves "Chrome and Edge in the dust," and that it would like to see Google and Microsoft follow its lead to offer better protection for users. Apple's Safari browser has similar anti-tracking features that prevent cross-site tracking and hide a user's IP address.

Firefox can be downloaded from the Mozilla website for free.

Amazon today has a pair of discounts on Apple's 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro, marking the first time since April that we've seen notable markdowns on the notebooks. Only the 16-inch models are being discounted on Amazon as of writing.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

You can get the 10-Core M1 Pro, 512GB 16-inch MacBook Pro for $2,299.00, down from $2,499.00. Additionally, the 10-Core M1 Pro, 1TB 16-inch MacBook Pro is on sale for $2,499.00, down from $2,699.00. Both sales are available in Silver and Space Gray, and in stock now.

Apple introduced the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in October 2021, equipped with mini-LED displays, more ports than the previous generation, up to 64GB memory, and more powerful Apple silicon chips, and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. Both models have faced shortages throughout 2022, so we haven't been tracking as many deals on them, but we're now starting to see restocks happen across various retailers.

Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.

Apple's revenue from its music and gaming subscription services is expected to jump 36% to $8.2 billion annually by 2025, according to JP Morgan (via Reuters).

The U.S. investment bank's analyst Samik Chatterjee on Monday said Apple Music and Apple Arcade are likely to have a combined subscriber base of about 180 million by 2025, with 110 million users paying for the company's music services and 70 million for gaming.

Launched in 2015 and now the second biggest music streaming service after Spotify, ‌Apple Music‌ is expected to account for $7 billion revenue by 2025. ‌Apple Arcade‌, which launched in 2019, is estimated to pull in $1.2 billion.

Apple doesn't break down sales in its Services category, but the company reported $19.82 billion for the March quarter. Apple's Services segment includes the App Store, Apple TV+, Arcade and ‌Apple Music‌.

Germany's Federal Cartel Office, the Bundeskartellamt, has initiated proceedings against Apple to investigate whether its tracking rules and anti-tracking technology are anti-competitive and self-serving, according to a press release.

The proceeding announced today will review under competition law Apple's tracking rules and specifically its App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATT) in order to ascertain whether they are self-preferencing Apple or being an impediment to third-party apps. Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, said of the proceeding:

"We welcome business models which use data carefully and give users choice as to how their data are used. A corporation like Apple which is in a position to unilaterally set rules for its ecosystem, in particular for its app store, should make pro-competitive rules. We have reason to doubt that this is the case when we see that Apple's rules apply to third parties, but not to Apple itself. This would allow Apple to preference its own offers or impede other companies. Our proceeding is largely based on the new competencies we received as part of the stricter abuse control rules regarding large digital companies which were introduced last year (Section 19a German Competition Act - GWB). On this basis, we are conducting or have already concluded proceedings against Google/Alphabet, Meta/Facebook and Amazon.

Introduced in April 2021 with the release of iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5, Apple's App Tracking Transparency Framework requires that all apps on ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ ask for the user's consent before tracking their activity across other apps. Apps that wish to track a user based on their device's unique advertising identifier can only do so if the user allows it when prompted.

Apple said the feature was designed to protect users and not to advantage the company. However, the Bundeskartellamt's preliminary findings indicate that while users can also restrict Apple from using their data for personalized advertising, Apple "is not subject to the new and additional rules of the App Tracking Transparency Framework."

The German competition regulator's proceeding is subsequent to an earlier proceeding initiated against Apple in June 2021 that was set up to look into claims of anti-competitive behavior related to the App Store, its products, and other services.

"In this context," said the regulator, "the possibilities for Apple itself to combine data across services and users' options regarding the processing of their data by Apple can be relevant, just like the question whether these rules may lead to a reduction of users' choice of apps financed through advertising."

Many advertisers have been impacted by ATT, but Facebook has been the most vocal and critical of the new change. Ever since Apple began to beta test the framework, Facebook accused Apple of impacting small businesses who rely on advertising as a means of keeping their doors open. Facebook also claimed that the framework was anti-competitive because it gives Apple an upper hand for running its own mobile advertising business on iOS devices.

An October 2021 report by the Financial Times claimed that ATT had resulted in a "windfall" for Apple's advertising business since its introduction. The report asserted that Apple's share of the mobile app advertising market tripled in the six months after the feature was introduced.

Apple has disputed suggestions that its ATT framework has unfairly benefitted the company to the detriment of third-parties. Earlier this year it commissioned a study into the impact of ATT that was conducted by Columbia Business School's Marketing Division. The study concluded that Apple was unlikely to have seen a significant financial benefit since the privacy feature launched, and that claims to the contrary were speculative and lacked supporting evidence.

Google Maps is gaining a new feature on iOS and Android that estimates the amount of money you'll have to pay in tolls for a chosen route.

Before you set off, you'll now see the estimated toll price to your destination in the app. Google says the road information is sourced from local tolling authorities, and includes factors like having a toll pass or not, what day of the week it is, and how much the toll is expected to cost at the specific time you'll be crossing it.

Options are available within the app's settings to display toll prices with or without a toll pass – Google notes that the price can change in many places depending on the payment method used. There is also an option to avoid routes crossing toll roads entirely.

Google says the toll prices feature is rolling out now and is available for nearly 2,000 toll roads in the U.S., India, Japan, and Indonesia, with coverage for more countries coming soon.

Following the WWDC keynote last week, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi spoke with TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino about the new Stage Manager feature for iPad and Mac. Notably, he elaborated on Stage Manager being limited to M1 iPads.

On the iPad, Stage Manager allows users to resize apps into overlapping windows for an improved multitasking experience. Stage Manager also fully supports an external display with up to 6K resolution, allowing users to work with up to four apps on the iPad and up to four apps on the external display simultaneously.

In a statement shared with Rene Ritchie last week, Apple asserted that Stage Manager "requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O, all of which are delivered by iPads with the M1 chip." Federighi elaborated on that rationale in his chat with Panzarino, telling him that the power of the M1 chip ensures that all apps being used in Stage Manager are "instantaneously responsive."

"It's only the M1 iPads that combined the high DRAM capacity with very high capacity, high performance NAND that allows our virtual memory swap to be super fast," said Federighi. "Now that we're letting you have up to four apps on a panel plus another four – up to eight apps to be instantaneously responsive and have plenty of memory, we just don't have that ability on the other systems," such as the previous-generation iPad Pro.

Released in April 2021, the iPad Pro with an M1 chip is available with up to 16GB of RAM, compared to 6GB in the previous iPad Pro. Apple also advertises the M1 iPad Pro as having 2x faster storage and up to 40% faster GPU performance compared to the previous model. Apple also released an iPad Air with the same M1 chip in March 2022.

"We really designed Stage Manager to take full advantage [of the M1 chip]," said Federighi. "If you look at the way the apps tilt and shadow and how they animate in and out. To do that at super high frame rates, across very large displays and multiple displays, requires the peak of graphics performance that no one else can deliver."

"When you put all this together, we can't deliver the full Stage Manager experience on any lesser system," added Federighi. "I mean, we would love to make it available everywhere we can. But this is what it requires. This is the experience we're going to carry into the future. We didn't want to constrain our design to something lesser, we're setting the benchmark for the future."

As for Stage Manager on the Mac, Federighi said there are already "so many different ways" to multitask on macOS, such as using Mission Control or the Command-Tab keyboard shortcut to switch between apps, and Stage Manager is simply another tool in the toolbox.

"On the Mac, there are so many different ways to work. Some people use spaces, some people are in and out of Mission Control. Some people are command tab people, some people like to create a mess, some people clean up their messes and some people use minimization. I mean, there's no wrong answer here, there are a lot of valid ways to work on the Mac."

"If 20% of the users on the Mac end up saying that this is another great tool in the quiver for them… that's fantastic," he said.

Prior to the launch of new iPhone models, case makers often create dummy models based on leaked schematics and specifications. We've known about the design of the ‌iPhone‌ 14 lineup for some time now, and this week, we got a set of dummy units to see the design updates for ourselves.

Because there's a lot of money in having a case ready for a new ‌iPhone‌ ahead of launch, dummy models are often quite accurate, so these fake ‌iPhone‌ 14 devices give us a clear picture of what we can expect to see.

Design wise, the ‌iPhone‌ 14 models are going to look a lot like the ‌iPhone‌ 13 models, but with a notable exception - there's not going to be an ‌iPhone‌ 14 mini. Instead, Apple is making two 6.1-inch iPhones (‌iPhone‌ 14 and ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro), along with two 6.7-inch iPhones (‌iPhone‌ 14 Max and ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max).

For the Pro models, the notch is going to be replaced with hole and pill-shaped cutouts for the camera and the Face ID equipment. The hole and pill design is not much different from a notch, but it will free up some space and make the front cameras less obtrusive. Standard ‌iPhone‌ 14 models will continue to have a notch.

We know there are some minor changes to the sizes of the devices, but when comparing a dummy unit to the ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup in person, it's difficult to tell. There are tiny changes to the screen sizes of the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models, but in day to day use, you're not going to notice.

Camera bumps are going to be a bit thicker and wider on the Pro models to accommodate the 48-megapixel camera that Apple is adding. Standard ‌iPhone‌ 14 models will not see many design changes.

Weight, material, and color are factors we can't deduce from dummy models, but rumors suggest the ‌iPhone‌ 14 models will have the same build as the prior-generation versions, though we could see a new featured purple color for both the standard and the Pro models.

Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 14 and ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models will have more differences than ever before, with the Pro models expected to adopt an A16 chip while Apple continues to use an A15 chip in the standard models. The ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models will also have more advanced camera systems, ProMotion displays that will likely support an always-on display feature, and more.

What do you think about Apple's plans for the ‌iPhone‌ 14 lineup? Let us know in the comments below.

Last week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was considering launching an all-new 12-inch notebook at the end of 2023 or in early 2024. Gurman said it was unclear if the notebook would be a low-end MacBook or a higher-end MacBook Pro.

In response to the report, Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants has revealed that he is currently "skeptical" about a new 12-inch MacBook.

"We are skeptical on a 12" MacBook at this point," wrote Young, in tweet shared with his Super Followers today. "Apple's strategy for notebooks is currently 13" and larger. Companies in the MacBook Pro display supply chain we talked to are not aware of it."

Gurman and Young are both very reliable sources when it comes to future Apple products, so it is possible that Apple is still in the early stages of developing a new 12-inch MacBook, to the point that the company's supply chain currently has no knowledge of the plans. Apple also routinely prototypes a wide variety of products internally, and it does not always move forward with releasing all of them, as Gurman pointed out.

Young has revealed a wide range of accurate insights into Apple's plans, such as the iPhone 13 Pro's ProMotion display, the sixth-generation iPad mini's 8.3-inch display, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro's mini-LED displays with ProMotion, the ‌new MacBook Air's slightly larger 13.6-inch display size, and more, so his comments are worth taking seriously, but it's still too early to rule out the possibility of a new 12-inch MacBook.

Apple has released both lower-end and higher-end 12-inch notebooks in the past. At the low end, Apple introduced an ultra-thin 12-inch MacBook that weighed just two pounds in 2015, but the notebook was discontinued in 2019. And at the higher end, Apple offered a 12-inch PowerBook G4 in the mid-2000s, prior to the original MacBook Pro.

Following the WWDC 2022 keynote last week, Apple's VP of health Dr. Sumbul Desai, operations chief Jeff Williams, and VP of fitness technologies Jay Blahnik spoke with TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington about new health features added in watchOS 9.

One of the Apple Watch's new health features is AFib History, which allows individuals diagnosed with atrial fibrillation to view an estimate of how frequently their heart is in this type of arrhythmia, according to Apple. Apple says the feature is intended for individuals aged 22 years or older who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

Desai said the AFib History feature received FDA clearance in the United States after being validated in a clinical study.

"As Jeff alluded to, everything we do in health is based on the science, and AFib history was validated in a clinical study, with participants wearing both Apple Watch and an FDA-cleared reference device," said Desai. "In that study, the average difference in weekly measurements between the two devices is actually less than 1%."

Williams said the AFib History feature could prove useful when a patient receives an ablation treatment for chronic atrial fibrillation, but the treatment is unsuccessful at first attempt and the patient continues to experience atrial fibrillation.

AFib History is not currently approved in all countries or regions, according to Apple, so availability of the feature will be limited at launch.

Starting with watchOS 9, the Apple Watch also offers sleep stage tracking, which lets you see how much time you spent in REM, core, or deep sleep, as well as when you might have woken up. (Apple refers to what is typically known as "light sleep" as "core sleep.")

"Prior to sleep stages, we were really focused on helping people meet their sleep duration goals, since that's really important — that consistency — but we wanted to go a little further and dig into the science, and provide users with more information around their sleep cycles," said Desai. "So using the signals from Apple Watch's accelerometer and heart rate sensor, users will now be able to see their sleep stages while they're in REM, core, and deep sleep."

On watchOS 9, the Workout app displays more information, including views of metrics like Activity rings, heart rate zones, power, and elevation, but Blahnik assured that the app remains suitable for "both beginners and advanced athletes."

The full discussion can be read at TechCrunch. watchOS 9 is currently in beta for developers and will be released to all users around September.

We're tracking the return of an Amazon all-time low price on Apple's AirPods Max today, priced at $429.00, down from $549.00. This is a match of the best price we've ever seen on the AirPods Max on Amazon, and it's available in Pink and Space Gray.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The AirPods Max are in stock and ready to ship today, with an estimated delivery date between June 15 - 18 for most places in the United States. This $120 discount does not require a coupon code of any kind as the deal has been already applied.

If you're shopping for other AirPods models, you can also get the AirPods 2 for $99.99, the AirPods 3 for $149.99, and the AirPods Pro for $174.99. All of these sales are available on Amazon today.

We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones.

LG Display is preparing to supply micro-OLED display panels for Apple's second-generation mixed-reality headset, The Elec reports.

LG Display is currently believed to be ordering deposition equipment for micro-OLED displays from Sunic System. The company apparently plans to use the equipment to develop and manufacture a micro-OLED display panel for Apple's second-generation mixed-reality headset.

While LG Display is believed to be part of the supply chain for Apple's first-generation headset, it is not expected to provide its main display, with Sony said to be supplying the main micro-OLED display panel for the first-generation headset instead. LG Display is rumored to only provide regular OLED display panels for the device's outer "indicator" screen.

With the second-generation headset, LG hopes to take Apple's main micro-OLED display orders from Sony. This is also said to be in Apple's interests since Sony will indirectly compete with Apple's headset with its own PlayStation VR headsets.

Late last year, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple was already working on the second-generation version of its headset, aiming to offer a more lightweight design, an improved battery system, and better performance thanks to a faster processor. Kuo said that the shipment schedule for the second-generation headset resides in the second half of 2024, around two years after mass production on the first-generation model is rumored to begin.

Apple has reportedly added a third contract manufacturer to its MacBook supply chain that will primarily handle assembly orders for the new MacBook Air (via DigiTimes).

China-based Wingtech Technology is said to have won the orders for Apple's just-announced new Mac model. The company joins Quanta Computer and Foxconn in what is now a trio of firms in Apple's MacBook supply chain.

Wingtech was previously said to have fallen out of favor with Apple due to manufacturing poor quality products. According to Chinese media reports in May, Wingtech was delisted by Apple from its front-facing camera module supply chain because of the flawed output, a rumor the supplier has dismissed.

Apple at WWDC 2022 announced the next-generation ‌MacBook Air‌ with an all-new M2 chip, a redesigned unibody enclosure, a brighter display with a notch, new color options like Starlight and Midnight, MagSafe charging, a 1080p camera, and more.

The new ‌MacBook Air‌ will be available next month, but no specific date has been provided by Apple. Pricing will start at $1,199 in the United States, and the previous-generation ‌MacBook Air‌ with the M1 chip will remain available for $999.

Following a months-long saga, the competition regulator in the Netherlands has finally accepted concessions by Apple to allow dating apps in the App Store to use alternative payment methods (via Reuters).

On Friday, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) released an update stating that "Apple now complies with the rules" regarding dating apps' ability to let their customers pay in different ways other than Apple's own payment method. The statement continued:

"That is why ACM no longer needs to impose a new order subject to periodic penalty payments. Over the past few months, ACM had collected information from dating-app providers and independent experts before its assessment that Apple complied with the order."

In December 2021, the ACM announced that Apple must let dating apps accept alternative payment methods on the ‌App Store‌ in the Netherlands. Apple complied with the demand, but it initially required Dutch dating apps to submit a separate app binary to accept alternative payments.

The ACM had remained unsatisfied with the changes, and the regulator fined Apple a total of €50 million between January and March for failing to comply with the order.

Apple dropped its requirement that dating apps compile a separate binary, which the regulator had deemed "unreasonable" and an "unnecessary barrier" for developers of dating apps. Apple also announced further changes to its policies on Friday, but said it does not believe these updates are "in the best interest" of user privacy or data security, and it is continuing to appeal the original ACM order.

"Until recently, customers of dating apps had only been able to pay using the payment method that Apple imposed," the ACM wrote in its latest update. "In ACM's opinion, Apple abused its dominant position with those practices. From now on, dating-app providers are able to let their customers pay in different ways."