TL;DR: On iOS in the EU, selecting a third-party browser from the choice screen replaces Safari in the hotseat (dock), ensuring the user’s choice is respected. This change has already led to meaningful gains in market share; Mozilla, for example, saw its daily active users double in France and Germany on iOS, where the hotseat change is implemented. DuckDuckGo’s findings suggest that replacing Safari in the hotseat boosted the iOS choice screen’s effectiveness by a factor of nine. Yet Google refuses to make an equivalent change on Android, relying on an unreasonably narrow and, in our view, incorrect interpretation of the Digital Markets Act. Even when users choose a different browser, Chrome remains prominently placed, undermining their decision and steering them back toward Google’s own product.
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Multiple browser vendors on Android and BEUC spoke to us about why they believe Google should implement this change:
Alphabet is undermining the browser choice screen if it leaves Chrome in the dock after a user has chosen an alternative browser. The choice the user makes should apply throughout the device and that means it should be the only browser you see in the dock and on the Home Screen. Sébastien Pant - The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC)
Automatically placing the user's chosen default browser on the dock considerably improved our app's retention on iOS. The same change is likely to cause the same effect on Android, and we see no reason why Android should apply the same obligation differently.
Aurélien Mähl - DuckDuckGo - Lead Public Policy Manager
The hotseat is a place for the user's most important apps. It's confusing for users who choose Vivaldi as their default to continue to see Chrome in the hotseat when they've clearly expressed their preference and switched away. It's obviously designed to steer users back to the gatekeeper's own browser. Bruce Lawson - Vivaldi - Technical Communications Officer
Ecosia has evidence to believe that 50% of users who select an alternative browser in the choice screen do not even open it. They stick with what is easily accessible. "Default" is not just a technical concept. Above all, it refers to the default positions in the User Interface, especially the “hot seat”. Dr. Wolfgang Oels - Ecosia - Chief Operating Officer
We're disappointed that Google continues to undermine the DMA, which aims to preserve personal choice and market competition. Instead of following the plain intent in the DMA, which aims to make it easy for Android users to use whatever browser they prefer, Google is cynically "playing dumb", and professing narrow, absurd interpretations of the DMA's plain meaning and goal.
If an Android user chooses Brave (or any other browser) to be their "default" browser, that user is (obviously) expressing the desire for Brave to be the primary, easy to access Web browser on the device. That means placing Brave in the "hotseat" just as much as making Brave the browser used to open websites on the device. We hope Google will stop dragging their feet, stop trying to undermine the DMA, and start respecting Android users' preferences, no matter the cost to Google's monopoly business interests. Pete Snyder - Brave - Principal Privacy Researcher
Some elements of the browser choice screen implementation remain lacking on Android. When a user selects Firefox as their default browser in the choice screen, it does not replace Chrome on the homepage (or "hotseat"). This means that, despite making a clear and specific choice, Chrome still remains the more prominent and easily accessible option on the device. Moving the selected browser to the hotseat would be a step towards making the DMA browser choice screen work for EU Android users and lead to further growth for independent browsers on Android. On iOS, where Apple made the hotseat change, Firefox saw an uptick of 111% daily active users in France and 99% in Germany in the first 12 months of the DMA - despite initially poor compliance. Kush Amlani - Mozilla - Director, Global Competition & Regulation
This has long been a concern for Open Web Advocacy, and it was included in our list of recommendations published in our 7 March 2024 article marking the beginning of DMA compliance obligations for gatekeepers:
Reduce the power of default browser with a choice screen Ensure that both Apple and Google implement effective designs for their browser choice screens. Specifically, the choice screen should not self preference their own browsers, should grant the chosen browser the “hotseat” and should appear on all existing devices once and all new devices (including after backup and restore). Open Web Advocacy
The hotseat refers to the set of app icons located on the dock at the bottom of the home screen on both iOS and Android devices. They have the advantage of always being shown regardless of which homescreen the user is on. This is prized real-estate for any commonly used app.
On all Apple devices and many Android devices gatekeepers’ browsers are placed in the hotseat via the default setup of the device.
At last year’s Apple DMA Workshop, we argued that Apple (and Google) should place a browser chosen in the browser choice screen in the hotseat or dock, replacing the gatekeeper’s browser.
We also reiterated this argument in multiple written submissions. To Apple’s credit they actually made this change, along with 6 other choice architecture suggestions we had submitted.
While Apple’s choice screen still has two major shortcomings, the age restriction issue and the decision to display it only when Safari is launched, rather than at startup, its current implementation is, overall, a reasonable solution that in our view gets about 85% of the way toward full compliance.
At this year’s DMA Apple workshop on Monday, Apple directly brought up their compliance with Article 6(3) and highlighted that other gatekeepers (i.e. Google) had not yet been compelled to comply to the same degree:
These are changes that go significantly further than the other designated companies who are subject to obligations of Article 6(3), one example is the fact that Apple and Apple alone amongst all designated gatekeepers for browsers, has been required to replace Safari on the dock or in the homescreen for the browser selected on the choice screen. Kyle Andeer - Apple - Vice President Apple Legal
(emphasis added)
Only two companies, Apple and Google, have been designated for both browsers and operating systems, and are therefore required to comply with this aspect of Article 6(3). While we actively campaigned for Microsoft Edge to receive a similar designation, through both written submissions and an open letter, those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.
OWA's Roderick Gadellaa, made the comment:
We agree with Apple: Hotseat should be default on Android as well, and we’ll be raising this tomorrow. Roderick Gadellaa - Open Web Advocacy
(emphasis added)
Last year at their DMA workshop, Google struck a markedly different tone to Apple, offering a complimentary and compliant outlook on the DMA, an approach that stood in welcome contrast to Apple’s overt hostility.
This year, however, while Google’s representatives reiterated their intention to continue complying with the DMA, their messaging shifted noticeably. They were eager to emphasise that the interoperability and competition the DMA introduces across Google’s core platform services, including Search, Play, Android, Chrome, Advertising, YouTube, Maps, and Shopping, is not a benefit to EU users, but is in fact actively harmful. This narrative, though politely framed, represents a significant and troubling pivot: from embracing compliance to attempting to undermine the regulation.
At the Digital Markets Act Google Workshop, our very own James Heppell was on the ground to pose the question directly to Google:
We heard yesterday that Apple’s choice screen implementation now grants the chosen browser the hotseat, meaning it’s prominently placed in the centre of the user’s dock - replacing the gatekeeper's browser Safari. In contrast, Google has not made these changes and continues to use a far less effective design.
We know from our conversations with browser vendors that having the hotseat leads to higher retention rates and reduces the dominance of the operating system gatekeeper and their browser.
By not placing the user’s chosen browser in the hotseat, Google is undermining Article 6(3) and making the choice screen significantly less effective. Just setting the default browser is not enough to nullify the advantage that Google grants their own browser via their control of Android’s default setup.
Given that Google already benefits from the hotseat on iOS, can Google commit to implementing an equivalent hotseat placement for browsers on Android?
And if so, when can we expect that to roll out? James Heppell - Open Web Advocacy
(emphasis added)
The question prompted a brief acknowledgment from Google’s Oliver Bethell:
The last part of your question, will we commit today to do x, y or z? I don't suspect today is going to be the place where we will commit to doing x, y or z. Just to prepare everyone for that, but we will certainly react to the substance and give you an indication of where we are currently in our thinking and then I'll dial up with the Commission.
[...]
and, the hotseat issue which was a hot topic as I understand yesterday.
Oliver Bethall - Google - Head of Competition, Regulatory Engagement & Advisory
(emphasis added)
Google's formal response came from Clare Kelly, who offered a very narrow interpretation of Article 6(3):
And then the question from Open Web Advocacy on hotseat, again our approach to this is informed by what the DMA says, and Article 6(3) is clearly about defaults, a hotseat is not a default, so a default is a service that will trigger as a result of a generic user action, as I mentioned earlier, and so if the user goes to do something, for example clicks on a url, it would be the browser that is used in order to fulfil that specific user intent. The placement of a particular app on a device has nothing to do with the default. And so that is our view in respect of how the hotseat question fits with what we are talking about, when we are talking about compliance with the DMA. Clare Kelly - Google - Senior Competition Counsel
(emphasis added)
This is an overly narrow interpretation, and it's particularly striking that Google chose to emphasise that the default browser is the one used when a user clicks on a URL, given that this is something Google itself actively undermines on Android. The Android Google Search widget, for instance, doesn’t open links in the user’s chosen default browser but instead opens them in the Google Chrome in-app browser. Many other popular apps also override the system default browser and silently open links in their own in-app browsers, a practice we’ve documented extensively. As a result, the very concept of a default browser is being steadily eroded on mobile. In this environment, securing a position in the hotseat has become a crucial source of traffic for the user’s selected browser and a key part of respecting the user's choice.
Mozilla’s Kush Amlani then challenged Google’s interpretation in a followup question, pointing to both the text of Article 6(3) and Recital 49:
Coming back to the hotseat and to your response there, I wanted to say that if you select a browser via a choice screen and it downloads to page 13 of your apps, I am not sure that necessarily complies with 6(3) and we would contest your interpretation of that. I mean, Recital 49 of the DMA says that "gatekeepers should allow end users to easily change default settings when those default setting favor their own software applications and services" and Article 6(3) also says that "gatekeepers should allow and technical enable end users to easily change default settings including via prompting by a choice screen" so from our point of view both of those things do require you to place the selected browser in the hotseat and obviously it has already been done by other gatekeepers as well. Kush Amlani - Mozilla - Director, Global Competition & Regulation
(emphasis added)
Despite Mozilla’s intervention, Google doubled down on its position:
In respect of the hotseat, I mean again, I can understand, you know, your perspective on things, but again it has to come back to what is said in the DMA even your reference to the recital reference is a default, a default means a very very specific thing and it hasn't to do the with the placement on a device and in any event on Android it is extremely easy for users to move around where their apps are placed when they are downloaded.
So again, we don't think it gives rise to any questions of non-compliance with the DMA, so as, again here our position is what I stated earlier. Clare Kelly - Google - Senior Competition Counsel
(emphasis added)
Here, again, Google is attempting to shrink the scope of the DMA by changing “default settings” to mean strictly “default apps”. They also repeatedly state that it all comes back to what the DMA actually says… so let us take a look at what it actually says in the act:
The DMA has a far broader interpretation in both Recital 49 and Article 6(3).
[...] The gatekeeper shall allow and technically enable end users to easily change default settings on the operating system, virtual assistant and web browser of the gatekeeper that direct or steer end users to products or services provided by the gatekeeper. That includes prompting end users, at the moment of the end users’ first use of an online search engine, virtual assistant or web browser of the gatekeeper listed in the designation decision pursuant to Article 3(9), to choose, from a list of the main available service providers, the online search engine, virtual assistant or web browser to which the operating system of the gatekeeper directs or steers users by default, and the online search engine to which the virtual assistant and the web browser of the gatekeeper directs or steers users by default. Article 6(3) - Digital Markets Act
(emphasis added)
Again “web browser to which the operating system of the gatekeeper directs or steers users by default” is clearly broader than the narrow definition that Google is trying to impose of simply which browser is the system default.
A default setting is any configuration pre-established by the gatekeeper’s operating system that shapes how users interact with their device and what services they use. These defaults span a wide range of areas. This can include which apps are set as default but also extends to home screen layout, apps’ default position, how notifications or updates behave, hardware preferences and many many more.
Importantly in this context DMA does not apply to every default setting, it only applies to those default settings which “favour its own or third-party services or products on its operating system” or those that impact which “online search engine, virtual assistant or web browser to which the operating system of the gatekeeper directs or steers users by default”.
This is further clarified in Recital 49, as mentioned in Kush Amlani’s question, a competition and regulatory lawyer for Mozilla.
A gatekeeper can use different means to favour its own or third-party services or products on its operating system, virtual assistant or web browser, to the detriment of the same or similar services that end users could obtain through other third parties. This can for instance happen where certain software applications or services are pre-installed by a gatekeeper. To enable end user choice, gatekeepers should not prevent end users from un-installing any software applications on their operating system. It should be possible for the gatekeeper to restrict such un-installation only when such software applications are essential to the functioning of the operating system or the device. Gatekeepers should also allow end users to easily change the default settings on the operating system, virtual assistant and web browser when those default settings favour their own software applications and services. This includes prompting a choice screen, at the moment of the users’ first use of an online search engine, virtual assistant or web browser of the gatekeeper listed in the designation decision, allowing end users to select an alternative default service when the operating system of the gatekeeper directs end users to those online search engine, virtual assistant or web browser and when the virtual assistant or the web browser of the gatekeeper direct the user to the online search engine listed in the designation decision. Recital 49 - Digital Markets Act
(emphasis added)
The intent here, is clearly, to the degree reasonably possible, to nullify the advantage the gatekeeper grants their own products on its operating system by the default setup of the device. In this case on Android devices where the choice screen is shown, the “default settings” that Google has applied are that Chrome is typically both the default browser app for links and is positioned in the hotseat, via a default setting. Obviously users are far more likely to continue to use the browser that is extremely prominently placed in the hotseat, regardless of what browser they pick in the choice screen if that chosen browser is buried on a far later page.
Yes, users could then manually drag that app onto the hotseat, but it is this style of friction that gatekeepers routinely have attempted to use to undermine compliance with the DMA. This was even anticipated by the EU, to the degree they added an entire clause for this type of behaviour:
The gatekeeper shall not engage in any behaviour that undermines effective compliance with the obligations of Articles 5, 6 and 7 regardless of whether that behaviour is of a contractual, commercial or technical nature, or of any other nature, or consists in the use of behavioural techniques or interface design. Article 13(4) - Digital Markets Act
(emphasis added)
The Act also imposes a complementary obligation in Article 8(1): gatekeepers must ensure that their compliance is effective in achieving the objectives of the Regulation. This means not simply following the letter of the law, but faithfully implementing its intent, as clarified in the recitals.
The gatekeeper shall ensure and demonstrate compliance with the obligations laid down in Articles 5, 6 and 7 of this Regulation. The measures implemented by the gatekeeper to ensure compliance with those Articles shall be effective in achieving the objectives of this Regulation and of the relevant obligation. Article 8(1) - Digital Markets Act
(emphasis added)
The intent of Article 6(3) is to eliminate the self-preferencing advantages that gatekeepers grant their own apps through the default configuration of the device. It is not enough for Google to nominally allow a browser choice, it must ensure that the user’s choice is effectively respected. Replacing Chrome in the hotseat with the selected browser is a clear and necessary step toward fulfilling that obligation.
Apple’s lawyers clearly agreed with our interpretation. We believe it is highly unlikely that Apple would have made this change to every iPhone in the EU and re-run the choice screen unless they had a high level of confidence they would lose a legal battle on this point.
Both Apple and Google are also highly likely to face the same requirements in the UK, as part of the ongoing Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act. In its long-running market investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) made a wide range of strong recommendations, two of which are directly relevant here and have been deferred for enforcement under the DMCC:
(b) A requirement for Apple to ensure the placement of a default browser selected by the user in the ‘application dock’/‘hotseat’ or on the default home screen at device set-up.
[...]
(b) A requirement for Google to ensure the placement of a default browser selected by the user in the ‘dock’/‘hotseat’ or on the default home screen at device set-up.” UK - Competition and Markets Authority
We stand with the smaller browser vendors who have raised concerns. The impact of proper choice screen implementation is clear, Mozilla, for example, saw its daily active users double in France and Germany on iOS, where the hotseat change is implemented. DuckDuckGo’s analysis found that search retention among choice screen users, a rough proxy for increase in browser usage caused by the choice screen, improved 9 times more among users presented with the iOS 18.2 choice screen, which include the hotseat replacement, compared to those using the iOS 17.4 choice screen, which did not (+64% at week 4 vs +7% at week 4 vs organics). Google’s refusal to implement a comparable measure on Android, while benefiting from Apple’s compliance on iOS, is unacceptable and undermines the intent of the DMA. Google should update its EU choice screen to place the user’s selected browser in the hotseat and prompt existing users who have already chosen a non-Chrome default browser to move it into the hotseat, displacing Chrome.
If Google does not act promptly, we urge the European Commission to intervene and compel Google to comply through enforcement action.