Brave says that daily Brave iOS app installs jumped from ~8K to over 11K after Apple added a default browser choice screen in the EU to comply with the DMA
Brave has seen a sharp increase in users installing its privacy-focused Brave Browser on iPhones after Apple introduced changes …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s EU browser changes had already been framed around a choice among leading App Store browsers; Brave’s reported install lift is an early measure of how that distribution change performs in practice. The earlier outline of the iOS browser-choice plan made the mechanism clear: users would be presented alternatives at a key setup decision.
The result matters because Brave already had an established mobile audience, including more than 50 million reported monthly active users at the end of 2021. The EU choice screen could therefore affect not just a new entrant, but a browser with an existing acquisition and retention base.
First-order effects
- Brave says daily iOS installs rose from roughly 8,000 to more than 11,000 after Apple introduced the EU choice screen, giving it a direct increase in mobile acquisition at the point users select a default browser.
- Apple’s DMA compliance change reduces the advantage of being preselected as the browser default for EU iPhone users, at least during the choice-screen flow.
Second-order effects
- Other browsers included in the choice flow gain a stronger incentive to compete on the clarity of their positioning, onboarding, and default-browser conversion rather than relying chiefly on App Store discovery.
- Apple will face closer scrutiny of choice-screen design and outcomes: a measurable lift for one alternative browser makes the implementation’s presentation and ranking commercially consequential.
Third-order effects
- If similar gains persist across alternatives, default-setting interfaces may become a meaningful distribution channel that regulators treat as part of effective platform openness, not a procedural compliance detail.
- The broader test is whether mandated choice produces durable browser switching or only an initial install spike; retention and actual default use determine whether the market structure changes.
The trend: DMA-style platform rules are shifting competition toward the interface moments where operating systems determine which services users encounter and set as defaults.