Quick Summary
It is reported that at least one iOS 26 feature won’t be released to EU users when the software launches later this year.
It is claimed that “Visited Places” on Maps won’t be coming to the EU market straight away.
Apple announced a number of new features when it revealed iOS 26 during WWDC last month, including a more transparent design, a redesigned Camera app and the ability to change the length of snooze for your alarm.
The software is due to arrive “later this fall”, with it expected to land sometime in September, alongside the release of the new iPhone models. However, a couple of features might be missing for EU iPhone users.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal (via 9to5Mac), Apple will delay the roll out of some planned new features to users in the European Union. That’s because EU regulations are making it harder to bring them to the region.
“The company’s lawyers said on Monday that tools such as a ‘visited places’ service that tracks and records where users have been, won’t be rolled out in the EU when it releases its iOS 26 software update later this year,” wrote WSJ’s Edith Hancock.
It’s not the first time EU users will have missed out on new features, so the news may not come as a huge surprise. Last year with the launch of Apple Intelligence, the feature wasn’t released to EU iPhones until months after the US and UK. One of the best features of macOS Sequoia – iPhone Mirroring – still isn’t available either.
What has Apple said about the regulations?
“We’ve already had to make the decision to delay the release of products and features we announced this month for our EU customers,” stated Kyle Andeer, vice president of Apple Legal, during a workshop with EU officials and developers in Brussels.
“Users’ security could be compromised if the company is obliged to open up its ecosystem to competitors.”
Currently, it’s only the Visited Places in Maps that is definitely not coming in the first release of iOS 26 for EU users, but it’s not clear if more will get the chop as we get closer to the launch.
Fingers crossed it won’t be too many more though, and hopefully definitely not the ability to change the snooze duration.
