Having to pay to use your iPhone's browser: that's up for debate!

With the Digital Markets Act just adopted by the European Union,Apple is now forced to ask users of a new iPhone which default browser they want to use. The question is asked when the device is first started. Obviously, we then begin to notice that Safari is no longer as popular as before. And among the outsiders who are starting to gain ground against the Apple company, we find Aloha Browser Premium. This is, as you will have understood, apaid offer!

Aloha Browser Premium emphasizesconfidentiality, where Apple is regularly singled out by observers for its more than questionable management of personal data. The third-party browser, for its part, offers an integrated ad blocker, but also a native virtual private network. Apple also requires payment to take advantage of its iCloud Private Relay feature. But Safari is not left out and regularly offers new features at the moment, for example the recent arrival of extensions or groups of tabs, very practical for partitioning your tasks.

Which browsers are gaining momentum?

Among the offers that are on the rise, we can also cite the case of Brave, a browser that minescryptocurrencieswhen you use it. Judge for yourself with the graph below, the figures are simply astonishing since Apple is forced to offer the browser's choice to its iOS users:

Why did Apple and Google make it hard to switch default browsers for so many years?
Because it's a powerful way to block competitors.
Just look at what happened to Brave installs on iPhone in the EU when Apple rolled out a new default browser choice screen on March 6th:pic.twitter.com/Wefz4mCHGi
— Brave Software (@brave)March 12, 2024

Other browsers have recently made headlines, likeArc Search, also accessible on iOS. This app integrates artificial intelligence, which is also the case, more recently, at Opera or at Microsoft Edge thanks to a partnership between its owner and OpenAI.

If at first glance the paid offer of the Aloha browser may make you smile, it is not without meaning. We can never repeat it enough: “when it's free, you're the product“. Most free software resells your personal data to the highest bidder.

At Apple, these are officially anonymized. But doubts remain about the security of this measure, especially since revelations have proven that the Apple firm's subcontractors listened to you speak even though you had not activated Siri.

We also know that developers who wish to promote their services on the App Store can now pay to directly target certain groups of users. The operation is very similar to that of the Meta Business Suite: the advertisements can, for example, target a certain age group, particular interests or even your geolocation. But this is the case for all the major service providers, from the parent company of WhatsApp to Google.

According to the general manager of the company that designs Aloha Browser, Europe was its fourth market beforethe arrival of iOS 17.4and your choice of browser. The Old Continent is now positioning itselfsecond, among its revenue-generating regions.