EU General Court Dismisses Apple’s Challenges to DMA Gatekeeper Designation for App Store and iOS

The European Union’s General Court on Tuesday dismissed Apple’s legal challenges to its designation as a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act for the App Store and iOS, leaving the European Commission’s 2023 decision in place and reinforcing the EU’s digital-markets enforcement framework.

In a judgment issued July 8, 2026, and summarized in Press Release No. 96/26, the court ruled in joined cases T-1079/23 and T-1080/23, Apple v Commission, together with Case T-214/24, Apple and Apple Distribution International v Commission. The court’s bottom line was unequivocal: “The General Court dismisses all the actions brought by Apple.” The result leaves in place the Commission’s September 2023 decision designating Apple as a gatekeeper in relation to the App Store and iOS.

The ruling is an early and important court test of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, or DMA, a law aimed at curbing the power of the largest digital platforms by imposing rules meant to keep markets more open and fair. By backing the Commission’s approach against one of the world’s largest technology companies, the General Court has given fresh support to the EU’s framework for enforcing the law.

One of the most significant legal points in the judgment concerns how Apple’s App Store is defined under the DMA. The court confirmed the Commission’s view that Apple’s various App Store versions across devices, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS, can be treated as a single “core platform service” for purposes of the law, rather than as separate services for each operating system or device category.

That matters because the Commission’s original gatekeeper designation, adopted on Sept. 5, 2023, covered the App Store, iOS and the Safari browser. In the cases decided Tuesday, the court upheld the designation as challenged for the App Store and iOS.

The court also rejected Apple’s attempt in these proceedings to challenge a DMA provision tied to interoperability obligations. It said that provision was not the legal basis for the designation decision and was not directly legally connected to it, making that part of Apple’s case inadmissible.

On iMessage, the court also found Apple’s actions inadmissible. The Commission had opened a market investigation into the messaging service, but on Feb. 12, 2024, it decided not to designate Apple as a gatekeeper for iMessage. The General Court said the Commission’s classification of iMessage as a number-independent interpersonal communications service, and as a potential core platform service, did not by itself alter Apple’s legal position. For that reason, Apple’s complaints directed at that classification, and at the opening and closing of the iMessage market investigation, were dismissed or ruled inadmissible.

The DMA, formally Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, is the EU law for regulating large online platforms designated as gatekeepers. Those designations trigger conduct rules intended to make digital markets more contestable and fairer for users and businesses. Apple was among the first group of companies designated by the Commission in September 2023.

Apple still has a further legal avenue. It may appeal the General Court’s ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the bloc’s highest court, but only on points of law. According to the court, any such appeal must be filed within two months and 10 days of notification of the decision.