Commission declines DMA designation for Apple Ads and Apple Maps (5 February 2026)

On 5 February 2026, the European Commission found that Apple Ads and Apple Maps should not be designated under the Digital Markets Act. The decision follows Apple’s notification of those services on 27 November 2025.

Commission reasoning (as published)

After reviewing Apple’s arguments, the Commission concluded Apple does not qualify as a gatekeeper in relation to Apple Ads and Apple Maps because neither service constitutes an important gateway for business users to reach end users. Considerations include Apple Maps’ relatively low overall EU usage rate and Apple Ads’ very limited scale in the EU online advertising sector. The Commission will continue to monitor market developments. The decision does not affect Apple’s existing gatekeeper designations for other core platform services from September 2023 and April 2024.

UA reading

Apple Ads remains outside DMA gatekeeper advertising-transparency obligations such as Articles 5(9) and 6(8) tooling that apply to designated online advertising services. Buyers should not expect DMA-mandated daily fee/publisher transparency APIs from Apple Ads on the strength of this decision. App Store and iOS designations are unchanged by this card.

Download the non-designation card.

Research checked 20 September 2026. Local draft; human editorial review pending.