Apple Sides With Google in EU Fight Over Opening Android to AI Rivals

Apple has publicly aligned itself with Google in a growing dispute with the European Commission over how far regulators can go in forcing Android open to competing AI services.

In feedback submitted to the European Commission and reported by Reuters, Apple backed Google’s warning that proposed EU rules for Android under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) could put European users’ privacy, security and device performance at risk.

The clash stems from the Commission’s effort to apply the DMA to Google’s AI products and Android ecosystem. In January, regulators told Google it must give external AI assistants the same level of access to Android as its own Gemini technology. The Commission also said Google must share “anonymized ranking, query, click and view data held by Google Search” with rival search engines.

Brussels argues these steps are needed to ensure third-party providers have “an equal opportunity to innovate and compete in the rapidly evolving AI landscape on smart mobile devices.” Opening up Android, the Commission says, would keep the AI market open and promote innovation.

In April, the Commission followed up with draft rules outlining specific measures Google would need to take to comply. Google’s counsel pushed back, arguing those measures would undermine “critical privacy and security for European users” and drive up costs.

Apple echoed those concerns in its own submission to the Commission’s consultation on the draft rules. According to Reuters’ account of the filing, Apple warned that granting competing AI services broad access to Android would directly weaken protections for people in Europe. Third-party AI tools could be allowed to interact with apps people use for core activities such as sending emails, ordering food or sharing photos.

“The DMs (draft measures) raise urgent and serious concerns. If confirmed, they would create profound risks for user privacy, security, and safety as well as device integrity and performance,” Apple reportedly wrote. The company argued that the risks are heightened because AI systems are still evolving, with capabilities and behaviours that remain unpredictable.

Apple also criticised the speed of the Commission’s work on the Android AI rules, saying the European executive was replacing judgments made by Google’s engineers with its own, based on “less than three months of work.” In Apple’s view, that is “all the more dangerous” because the only clear value guiding the measures appears to be “open and unfettered access.”

Apple has acknowledged it has a strong interest in how the Android case plays out. The company is itself being probed by the Commission and has long opposed the DMA, which targets large digital “gatekeepers” and imposes obligations intended to spur competition.

Under the DMA, Apple is required to allow third-party marketplaces for apps on its operating system, a direct challenge to the tight control it has historically exercised over iOS distribution. Apple had previously asked the Commission to repeal the DMA, and in January accused the EU’s executive body of using “political delay tactics” to investigate and fine the company after it shut down an alternative app store.

The Android AI dispute now gives Apple a high-profile platform to argue that aggressive interoperability mandates can erode user protections rather than strengthen them. By aligning with Google, Apple is effectively warning that a push for openness at all costs could undermine privacy, security and the integrity of devices at a time when AI systems are still maturing.

For its part, the Commission maintains that the DMA’s purpose is to prevent dominant platforms from locking competitors out of key technologies and user data, particularly as AI becomes central to how people search, communicate and use their phones.

The consultation on the draft Android AI measures is ongoing, and the Commission has not yet issued a final decision on how Google must adapt Android and Gemini in Europe.