The General Court of the European Union dismissed every action Apple brought against its designation as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act on July 8, 2026. The court’s own procedural rule gives Apple two months and ten days after formal notification of that judgment to appeal to the Court of Justice, a window whose outer edge lands inside September.
The ruling covers the same App Store and iOS designation that iPhone 18 Pro and the rest of Apple’s fall lineup ship under across the European Union. It does not change the iOS 27 release schedule or the iPhone Duo launch date. It settles a legal classification question, decided in three joined cases the court’s own press office numbered and dated, covered in Apple’s September event recap.
Key facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Court | General Court of the European Union, Luxembourg |
| Cases | Joined Cases T-1079/23 and T-1080/23, plus T-214/24 |
| Judgment date | July 8, 2026 (press release No. 96/26) |
| Result | All of Apple’s actions dismissed; iMessage claims ruled inadmissible |
| Further appeal | To the Court of Justice, points of law only, within two months and ten days of notification |
Why the five App Stores counted as one
Apple argued that its five storefronts, the iOS App Store, iPadOS App Store, watchOS App Store, macOS App Store and tvOS App Store, should be assessed separately, so that only the iPhone store would meet the size and reach thresholds the DMA sets for gatekeeper status. The General Court rejected that reading. Its press release states the stores “have the same purpose, namely to connect app developers with end users in order to facilitate the distribution of software applications,” and that the differences Apple pointed to relate to the devices involved rather than to the service itself. The original designation, issued by the European Commission on September 5, 2023, covering the App Store, iOS and the Safari browser, stands as written.
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iMessage was never actually designated
A separate part of Apple’s case concerned iMessage. The Commission opened a market investigation into iMessage the same day it designated Apple as a gatekeeper, then closed that investigation on February 12, 2024 without designating iMessage as a gatekeeper service. Both decisions still classified iMessage as a number-independent interpersonal communications service, one of the categories the DMA treats as a core platform service. Apple challenged that classification anyway. The court ruled the challenge inadmissible, reasoning that the classification alone creates no binding legal obligation, since none of the DMA’s specific duties apply to a service that has not actually been designated. iMessage carries a label under EU law with no rulebook attached to it.
The interoperability track is a separate, still-open appeal
The July 8 ruling settles the designation question but leaves a second Apple-EU dispute untouched. In September 2024, the Commission opened specification proceedings under Article 8(2) of the DMA to define exactly what Apple must do to meet its interoperability obligation, splitting the work into two decisions: one on connected-device interoperability (Case DMA.100203) and one on the request-based process developers use to ask for it (Case DMA.100204), adopted March 19, 2025. Apple’s challenge to those decisions is a separate appeal the July 8 judgment does not touch. Most of the per-feature deadlines the Commission set under that decision, covering iOS notifications, proximity-triggered pairing and background execution, already passed on June 1, 2026. One deadline remains ahead: full parity for automatic audio switching to non-connected third-party devices, due by June 1, 2027.
A second, older fine is still on appeal too
A third Apple-EU track predates both the gatekeeper case and the interoperability appeal. The Commission fined Apple €500 million in April 2025 for violating the DMA’s anti-steering obligation, finding that Apple’s rules stopped app developers from fully benefiting from directing users to offers outside the App Store. Apple’s appeal against that fine, filed July 7, 2025, remains pending and runs on its own schedule, independent of the July 8 gatekeeper ruling and the interoperability appeal.
| Other Apple-EU track | Status as published |
|---|---|
| Interoperability specification proceedings (DMA.100203, DMA.100204) | Apple’s appeal still pending; one per-feature deadline remains, June 1, 2027 |
| Anti-steering fine, imposed April 2025 | Apple’s appeal, filed July 7, 2025, against the €500 million fine still outstanding |
What Apple has not said
- Whether it will appeal the July 8 ruling to the Court of Justice.
- A resolution date for the interoperability specification-proceedings appeal.
- A resolution date for the anti-steering fine appeal filed July 7, 2025.
Today is September 13, 2026. Counted from the judgment date itself, the appeal window’s outer edge falls around September 18. The Court of Justice’s own case list, published on curia.europa.eu, is where any Apple appeal would first appear.
