Apple’s iOS 26.3 will introduce proximity pairing to third-party units within the EU

Apple is making it slightly simpler to make use of third-party units with iPhones as a way to adjust to Europe’s Digital Market Act (DMA), MacRumors reported. For iOS 26.3, Apple’s units will assist third-party proximity pairing and notifications in Europe solely, in line with the most recent beta notes. That can make it a bit simpler to attach units like Sony headphones or obtain notifications from an iPhone on Put on OS smartwatches — offered producers assist the brand new characteristic.

“The DMA creates new alternatives for builders to convey to market progressive services in Europe,” an EU spokesperson advised The Wall Avenue Journal. “That is one other step in direction of a extra inter-connected digital ecosystem to the good thing about all EU residents.” The EU Fee added that the performance will probably be “totally out there” within the bloc in 2026.

The brand new capabilities are as follows:

• Proximity pairing – Units like earbuds will have the ability to pair with an iOS system in an AirPods-like means by bringing the accent near an iPhone or iPad to provoke a easy, one-tap pairing course of. Pairing third-party units will not require a number of steps.

• Notifications – Third-party equipment like sensible watches will have the ability to obtain notifications from the ‌iPhone‌. Customers will have the ability to view and react to incoming notifications, which is performance usually restricted to the Apple Watch. Notifications can solely be forwarded to at least one linked system at a time, and turning on notifications for a third-party system disables notifications to an Apple Watch.

Proximity pairing is a comparatively minor quality-of-life improve, permitting you to attach with a faucet by way of NFC fairly than diving into the Bluetooth settings. Nevertheless, there is no indication that it’s going to permit seamless switching between units as you are able to do with Apple’s iPods, as an example. Notifications, nevertheless, will lastly make third-party watches possible with iOS units.

Apple’s DMA compliance efforts are fascinating to observe, because it seems to be doing the naked minimal required, typically for what it calls privateness causes. In some instances, the corporate is eradicating options in Europe which can be out there elsewhere, like iPhone mirroring on Mac — that means it does not should implement the identical characteristic on Android units or PCs.