Industry Newslocation servicesapp storeappledigital markets act
Apple Implements Geoblocking To Restrict App Access
6.1
Apple has developed an on-device system called "countryd" (first reported in 2023) to determine users' locations from GPS, Wi‑Fi router country codes, and SIM data, Wired reports. After the EU Digital Markets Act took effect in 2024 Apple restricted third-party app‑store access to devices physically in the EU, and in January 2025 added App Store terms allowing IP-based geoblocking, coinciding with US removal of ByteDance apps.
Key Points
- 1Develops 'countryd' system using GPS, Wi‑Fi, and SIM data to determine user country
- 2Responds to EU Digital Markets Act by restricting third‑party app store access to EU territory
- 3Enables geoblocking such as US removal of ByteDance apps, complicating cross‑border app availability
Scoring Rationale
Moderate novelty and wide scope due to Apple policy and geoblocking, limited by single-source reporting and unclear technical details.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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