Apple Pay is anti-competitive? iOS will remove Apple Wallet from iPhones
Not using Apple Wallet on your iPhone? Well, you can’t uninstall the app to free up space on your mobile. But with iOS 16.1, this situation could change.
This week was marked by the deployment of beta 7 of iOS 16.0 and the first beta of iPadOS 16.1. If no beta of iOS 16.1 is yet available to get an idea of what the update will bring, looking at what’s new on the side of iPadOS 16.1 is a good way to know in advance what Apple is planning . And 9TB5Mac has just spotted an interesting piece of information in the code of iPadOS 16.1.
According to the publication, this new version of the operating system allows users to remove the Apple Wallet application, the digital wallet installed by default on iPhones. Since this app does not exist on iPad and iPadOS shares a common base with iOS, we are not taking great risks in deducing that Apple plans to integrate this possibility of uninstalling Wallet from its device on iPhones.
Apple Wallet collateral victim of accusations against Apple Pay?
Apple Wallet is a service that allows you to manage tickets, transport cards, loyalty cards, but also bank cards added via Apple Pay. Very practical for some, it is also useless for many users who do not use it. And since it cannot be deleted, the application consumes resources and storage space for nothing. This situation would therefore be about to change with the deployment of iOS 16.1, while iOS 16.0 should land in a stable version in September.
But the reason for this change is not necessarily related to improving the user experience. Apple is facing legal attacks relating to an abuse of a dominant position in Apple Pay, the only application available for contactless payment with an iPhone today. Several antitrust lawsuits hang in the face of the American firm, which could therefore authorize the removal of Apple Wallet from the iPhone as a gesture of good faith.
Source: 9To5Mac