A flagship European Union digital market regulation apparently already is making waves in competition in the mobile browser market.

It has only been around a month since the Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into application, but there are already some early signs that it is already making an impact by making phone makers reveal users their browser choice screens.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported growth data shared by Cyprus-based web browser Aloha and others that it said suggests the new law is stirring the competitive pot and helping smaller browser makers gain share or at least grab more attention than they were.
But it's early days for DMA implementation, with choice screen rollouts still a work in progress, and many EU users haven't even seen one yet. While Aloha is not the only other browser reporting a boost in interest since the DMA compliance deadline kicked in on March 7 — Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi all shared positive stories of increased interest — several others, including DuckDuckGo and Firefox, told us it's too soon for them to be able to assess the regulation's effect.

For this report, we surveyed 16 alternative browser-makers as well as Apple and Google, and reached out to the European Commission to inquire about its tracking of the DMA's impact in this area. It refused to provide any data.

Neither Google nor Apple responded to questions seeking information on any changes in regional use of its own browsers since choice screens began being displayed to mobile users.

Choosing screens
The EU wants the DMA to strengthen competition against internet "gatekeepers" whose dominance of leading platforms provides them with many strategic advantages over smaller competitors. The regulation does this by establishing a list of "dos and don'ts" that tech giants have to adhere to. In the case of browsers, for instance, it obliges the likes of iOS maker Apple and Google's Android to display browser choice screens — forcing them to point users to alternatives to Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome.

While choice screens are intended to counter platform dominance and self-serving defaults by reminding consumers that alternatives are available, it is still necessary for consumers to choose to switch over to an alternative app to make choice screens do positive work for competition. How screens are designed matters too.

Other browser manufacturers, however, still worry that choice screens are not developed to full potential. We believe this is causing hesitation on the part of some underdogs to provide the kind of data on early impact that would be valuable, particularly now that the EU is scrutinizing Apple's design of choice screen for suspected noncompliance.

Put another way, some browser makers may be playing a waiting game in hopes of pushing Commission enforcers to want a more vigorous implementation. Meanwhile, some real small players may find more to be gained through good old-fashioned publicity — for example, issuing a press release touting early interest — as a way to raise their profile in hopes of driving more downloads through increased awareness.

Overall, it's still very early. Many regional mobile users may not have even seen a choice screen appear on their handset yet. Google, for instance says screens are being displayed on newly launched Android devices but for existing Android handsets it's up to the makers of the devices to push out the choice screens to their users. So there isn't a clear implementation timeline on Android.

Apple claims it has been showing choice screens to iOS users since iOS 17.4; well, users who haven't updated yet still don't see any.

Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, says it estimates less than a fifth of iOS users have seen a choice screen so far. It reckons even fewer Android users have seen one in the wild as yet.

Against that patchy Android rollout picture, it certainly looks like more iOS users would have had choice screens than Android users at this point – though Google's platform does boast a higher market share regionally.

Differences in the types of apps that mobile users encounter also make it difficult to compare the DMA's effect on market share for alternative browsers. Some are much more extensive – such as Firefox, which is to be displayed on the iOS choice screen in every EU market. Others, by contrast, are much more limited: Vivaldi, for example, will appear in a mere eight. Meaning exposure to potential users can vary wildly depending on the browser. (Apple's currently visible options in each market are listed here.)

Alt browsers on the up?
Aloha, a privacy-focused browser that claims not to track users, said it's seen 250 percent growth in new users, i.e. app downloads since the DMA came into effect last month. It reports having some 10 million active monthly users globally — and estimates that around 1 million of those are located in the EU. So it remains a very small player.

However, since Aloha says it does not collect any personal data, including location data, it cannot be specific about where its users are based. Yet it said Reuters that the EU had climbed up to become its second-biggest market from being its fourth-biggest since the DMA compliance deadline took effect.

Aloha also stated that it has seen growth in users within the U.S. since the DMA was put into place — but since the regulation does not apply in the U.S. market, U.S. users are not experiencing it through browser choice screens. In a statement to TechCrunch, Aloha said it believes user awareness around privacy is generally improving, and new installs in the EU may be partly fueling its rise within the U.S. App Store.

Meanwhile, Norway-based Opera is also touting market share wins since the DMA began to have an impact on March 7. New metrics presented to TechCrunch Wednesday report that new user growth from February into the end of March was 63%, so it's reporting a pretty big rise in people downloading Opera and giving it a try.

It is also reporting a 39% growth in users on iOS who select its browser specifically as their default from March 3 until April 4.

Previously, Opera reported 164% growth in the inflow of new EU users on iOS after it became due for Apple to implement the DMA-enforced choice screen. So, it actually does seem to have seen a decline in the growth rate it's experienced over this period — at least, after a bigger initial interest spike.

Whatever, Opera sounds pretty happy to have that extra level of interest. In a statement, EVP of mobile Jørgen Arnesen said the DMA "is working to even the playing field," adding: "We're excited to see that it has become easier for users to express their browser choice and for that choice to be respected."

Another browser maker that also had a good experience since DMA compliance day is Vivaldi, which is also developed out of Norway.

It said that since the iOS choice screen came into effect, downloads have risen by 36.7% in the EU as a whole. However, the jump in downloads is even greater when taking into account those eight markets in which Vivaldi is actually appearing on iOS choice screens. In those markets, it said downloads have increased 69.6% since the choice screen started being served up to users.

Though downloads are up, Vivaldi is not happy with the form and design of Apple's choice screen at this time.

"There are huge flaws in its implementation, both in terms of when it will be shown and what will be shown," a company representative said. "Users can only see the choice screen once they have clicked on Safari. The browsers list does not include extra information, and that does not help users make an informed choice.". If the user has already picked his or her browser of preference, the choice screen can actively try to push them away from it, and maybe even refuse to include it in the list that it shows to the user.

"We believe priority should be given to cross-platform browsers, so the same browser can be used on all the user's devices," she added. "Apple looks at it very narrowly, per platform and country. We believe the main browser choices should be visible and we are not. And we should be on the list for all countries."

We also earned praise from Brave. The US-based privacy-focused browser said it has seen "a significant uptick" in installs since the DMA came into effect. (Although it does not report users per region so declined to break out total usage figures for the EU.)

The new browser panel resulted in the daily installs for Brave on iOS in the EU expanding from around 7,500 to 11,000 this past March, according to a company spokesperson. Over the past few days, the service has witnessed a new all time high spike of 14,000 nearly double pre-choice screen numbers.

"As for retention, users who are choosing Brave from the DMA screen are being retained equally to or better than our average," she added, arguing that, overall, the uptick in interest it's seeing "confirms that users want choice."
On the other hand, three other alternative browsers whom we reached out to — DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and Firefox — said that it is too early to establish whether the DMA is helping them.

Veteran privacy-focused browser maker DuckDuckGo refused to comment on any data share, saying it's still too early to draw meaningful conclusions.

"While we have seen some positive signs, the choice screen rollout is ongoing, and for a competitor like us that sees billions of searches and millions of downloads a month, we need more time to make an accurate impact assessment at scale," it said in a statement.

DuckDuckGo also said it is denied information that would help it assess the effect of the DMA, also pointing out for example that it cannot know how many people have ever seen a choice to select between a search engine and a browser.

"This is key because it would help us understand our selection rate on a choice screen and how wide-ranging the rollout has been," it said, adding: "We're at the start of this journey, not at the end."

Another alt player, the not-for-profit, tree-planting and eco-action focused Ecosia, also told us it does not have enough data to get a sense of whether this regulation is having the hoped-for effect. "We have not received selection rates or any other meaningful datasets, so it is hard for us to solidly report on the effectiveness of the choice screen at this stage," said Sophie Dembinski, its head of public policy and climate action.

She says that Ecosia isn't satisfied with the choice screen given on iOS and that strangling its growth potential — also referring to the case open with the Commission about Apple's implementations.

"Also while Ecosia has jumped to second and third position in some European markets for utility apps in the Apple App Store, our search numbers have barely changed," she said. "This is due to several design issues within Apple's choice screen — including presenting the choice screen to users who have already selected an alternative choice to Safari; an overly complex installation process which loses a large number of users; and keeping the Safari browser app in the best position on the home screen."

Another veteran browser player, Firefox, is also holding its powder dry when it comes to assessing early impact.

"We are not currently sharing absolute numbers, both because we have some serious concerns about the current choice screens and because we estimate that less than 20% of users on iOS and likely less on Google have been exposed to them thus far," said Mozilla's Kush Amlani, global competition and regulatory counsel.

"The DMA represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create competition and choice for EU consumers. Whether that potential is realized depends on the gatekeepers' compliance and the European Commission's enforcement," he stressed, referencing the Commission's probes into suspected gatekeeper non-compliance.

"While we're seeing many thousands of people choose Firefox on the choice screens, we don't think this should distract from the fact that the iOS choice screen has major flaws that prevent people from being able to make good choices," said Amlani. "The critical challenge is that powerful and deep-pocketed gatekeepers are incentivised to protect their existing closed ecosystems and fight the implementation of the DMA, which will open them up to competition."

TechCrunch approached browser makers that may benefit from the DMA choice screens and received one report of no measurable impact since the requirement went into effect: Yandex, a Russian-based browser that can now be included on the iOS choice screen in the entire European Union, informed us that it hasn't seen "any meaningful changes in the user metrics in the region so far.".

For example, in the case of Yandex, it may have no interest in switching all at once because consumers are concerned to use or support software developed in Russia due to this war in Ukraine.