AirPlay is no longer exclusive; Europe opens iPhone to third-party streaming

Recent directives from the European Union continue to shape the software of Apple devices, forcing the company to modify functionality historically inaccessible to external developers.

The Digital Markets Act, the EU legislation aimed at ensuring fair competition in digital markets, is pushing Apple toward a new structural opening. The latest development directly concerns the transmission of multimedia content.

The operating system of the California-based company will allow native integration of alternative streaming protocols, overcoming the historical closed approach in favor of the proprietary AirPlay.

iPhone opens up to third-party streaming without AirPlay

According to information released by journalist Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple engineers are actively working to introduce this deep change with the upcoming iOS 27 update.

Until now, those who owned an iPhone could natively stream videos, photos and audio tracks to TVs or external speakers almost exclusively using Apple’s built-in service. Soon, however, it will be possible to set up third-party services as system default solutions.

This means that compatibility will not be limited to within specific applications, but will be rooted at the core of the operating system, ensuring an immediate user experience wholly similar to that usually offered by the official service.

The Rise of Google Cast and its Competitors

The main beneficiary of this technical transition will undoubtedly be Google Cast. Given that it is the most widely used multimedia streaming sharing solution globally, its native support on iOS will greatly simplify consumers’ daily routines from now on.

Think about hotel rooms, where TVs often provide only Google’s protocol to receive content from guests’ smartphones.

In addition to Google’s Mountain View, the novelty will prove advantageous for many manufacturers of home entertainment equipment. These companies will be able to offer a direct and stable connection with Apple smartphones without having to bear the costs of formally supporting AirPlay and without having to resort to less suitable standards such as Bluetooth transmission.

A feature with geographic boundaries

However, this freedom of choice will be strictly subject to a precise territorial limit. Following the same operating modalities seen with the introduction of alternative app stores to the official App Store, the ability to replace AirPlay at the system level will be an exclusive reserved solely for users residing in EU member countries.

Sources clearly indicate that the California-based leadership will not implement the change worldwide, protecting and keeping intact its closed ecosystem elsewhere.

Consequently, consumers living outside the borders of Europe will not have access to this native Google Cast integration and will continue to rely on the traditional infrastructure provided by the company.