Alternative app distribution in the EU and what it means for Screen Time

For most of the App Store’s history, the choice “where does an app come from” was not a choice. It was Apple’s App Store, or nothing [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].

The Digital Markets Act changed that in the EU [source: digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-citizens]. Since 2024, an iPhone in the EU can install an app from a third-party marketplace and, in some cases, download an app directly from a developer’s website [source: apple-alt-app-distribution] [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

This article is about what that change does to parental controls. It is not a tutorial for installing apps through alternative channels.

Half-life. This article uses sources whose status is captured in checked_on above. DMA-related terms change at every major iOS release. Re-check this article’s prerequisites after each iOS major release.

Definition

The Digital Markets Act is an EU regulation that designates certain large platforms as “gatekeepers” and obliges them to allow alternative channels for software distribution [source: digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-factsheet]. Apple is a designated gatekeeper for its App Store on iOS [source: apple-eu-alternative-distribution].

In response, Apple opened two new routes for installing apps on iPhones sold or activated in the EU [source: apple-alt-app-distribution]:

• Alternative app marketplaces. A third party runs a marketplace app, like AltStore or the Epic Games Store. The marketplace is installed once. Apps are then installed through it.
• Web distribution (or “developer websites”). A developer hosts an app on their own site. The iPhone installs it directly, after a “trust this developer” prompt [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

Both routes exist in addition to the App Store. They do not replace it. A parent who never touches them has a normal App Store device [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].

The regulatory purpose, in plain language, is to stop a single company being the only door into mobile software on its platform [source: digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-citizens]. The effect on parents is the topic of this article.

Scope

The article describes three things:

• The route change. Where apps come from, and how that is decided.
• The Screen Time coverage. What Apple documents as still working in this new world, and what Apple documents as not working.
• The practical effect. What parents see on the device, what they do not see, and what to re-check after each iOS major release.

It does not cover:

• How to install an alternative marketplace. Apple’s first-party support pages document that flow. This wiki is not the place for it.
• The DMA as a legal text. The wiki links to the EU Commission’s DMA pages in the sources section, not as a primer.
• Android side-loading. Google Play’s side-loading behaviour pre-dates the DMA. The Android-side Family Link control is a different article.
• Country-by-country detail outside the EU. The Article Marketplaces row appears on iPhones sold in the EU. An iPhone sold in Switzerland or the UK cannot install alternative marketplaces, even if its Apple Account is later moved to an EU country [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

Why this matters for parents

Before the DMA, App Store review was the single gate that kept a child account’s app list finite and reviewable. When a child could install an app, the parent saw where it came from. The gate was one gate in one place [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].

Alternative distribution changes three things at once. The combination is the point [source: apple-alt-app-distribution] [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions]:

• There is more than one review regime. Each marketplace has its own terms, age rating, dispute route, and data handling. A parent who cared about App Store review now has several regimes to learn.
• Some Screen Time settings do not extend. Apple documents that Ask to Buy, Family purchase sharing, and Screen Time restrictions on in-app purchases do not apply to purchases made through alternative marketplaces or direct web distribution [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].
• The Screen Time report does not include them. Apps installed through alternative marketplaces do not appear in the App Store purchase history. Their absence is not evidence of an absence of installs [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

The first point is structural. The second and third are reasons the parent-side closure has to be configured deliberately, with eyes open [source: apple-eu-alternative-distribution].

What Screen Time still does inside this new world

Apple documents that Screen Time, Family Sharing, and parental controls continue to function for apps installed through alternative channels [source: apple-eu-alternative-distribution] [source: apple-alt-app-distribution]. The relevant building blocks are:

• Content & Privacy Restrictions continues to gate content, web access, and account changes. The container is the same one used for App Store content, and the screen reference is apple.screentime.content_privacy_restrictions.
• App Limits, Downtime, Communication Limits, Screen Distance continue to operate per app, regardless of where the app came from.
• Communication Safety continues to operate per supported surface.

These are documented by Apple as continuing to function [source: apple-eu-alternative-distribution]. The article on Set up Screen Time on iPhone covers the wider Screen Time container.

What Apple documents as not extending

Three exclusions are worth stating exactly, because they are the mechanical reason a parent might assume a setting covers an alternative-marketplace purchase when it does not:

• Ask to Buy does not apply to alternative-marketplace or direct-web purchases. Apple is explicit that the approval request only fires for purchases inside the App Store and Apple In-App Purchase path [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].
• Family purchase sharing does not apply to alternative-marketplace or direct-web purchases. The same source is explicit on this point [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].
• Screen Time in-app-purchase restrictions do not extend to alternative-marketplace apps. Screen Time can restrict in-app purchases on App Store apps. It cannot do the same on apps installed through an alternative marketplace or a developer’s website [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

A parent’s closure on these three paths therefore has to be a different switch — see the next section.

The parent-side closure

The parent-facing switch is inside Content & Privacy Restrictions. Apple documents it in two places: the “About alternative app distribution” page and the “How to help ensure you only install apps from the App Store” page [source: apple-alt-app-distribution] [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

The screen reference is apple.screentime.content_privacy_restrictions.marketplaces. The row sits inside the App Installations & Purchases group of the Content & Privacy Restrictions container. The configuration details are walked through in the configuration article, not in this one.

The brief version:

• The App Marketplaces row controls whether the device can install a third-party marketplace app.
• The Web row controls whether the device can install an app directly from a developer’s website.

Both must be set to Don’t Allow for the closure to be complete. Setting only one closes one route, not both [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

Things that re-open the switch

The configuration does not survive every change to the device.

• Major iOS releases can reset Content & Privacy Restrictions. Apple documents that a major iOS release can return these settings to defaults. The fix is to re-open the section and set the rows to Don’t Allow again [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions] [source: apple-parental-controls].
• A forgotten Screen Time passcode can be recovered through the Apple Account. Whoever holds the Apple Account credentials can re-set the passcode and re-open the toggle. The recovery path is documented by Apple [source: apple-region-rules].
• The toggles are absent on devices sold outside the EU. An iPhone bought in Switzerland cannot install alternative marketplaces even if its Apple Account is later moved to an EU country. The row appears or does not appear based on the device’s sales region, not the Apple Account region [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

The first point is the one that surprises parents. The configuration has a half-life that ends at the next major iOS release. Treating it as permanent is the configuration gap.

What the configuration does not do

A short list of what the closure does not accomplish, to set expectations:

• It does not retroactively remove a previously installed marketplace. A marketplace installed before the toggle was set to Don’t Allow remains on the device until it is uninstalled by hand [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].
• It does not evaluate the apps in alternative marketplaces. Screen Time is the gate, not the App Store review. The marketplace’s review policy is the marketplace’s own [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].
• It does not change the family payment method. A child with a different payment method on file can still complete a purchase that does not touch the family method [source: apple-region-rules].
• It does not appear on devices sold outside the EU. This article’s steps apply only to iPhones sold or activated in the EU [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

The single sentence version: the configuration is a route gate, not a content gate.

When the rule does not apply to the child

A child who can stop Family Sharing on their own cannot, by the same logic, keep themselves in Screen Time. The configuration above still applies — the parent-side closure works regardless of who has the family-organiser credential.

The age threshold at which a child can stop Family Sharing on their own varies by country. GDPR Article 8 leaves the digital-consent age to member states, between 13 and 16 [source: euconsent-gdpr-art8]. Apple’s region-specific rules page lists the per-country thresholds [source: apple-region-rules].

The threshold matters because the child below the threshold cannot opt out of the family configuration. They can still install a marketplace if the App Marketplaces toggle is open. Closing the toggle at the same level as the rest of Content & Privacy Restrictions closes that route [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions].

Talking about it

A child who finds an alternative marketplace icon on their device will not, by default, understand what it is. Three habits help [source: digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-citizens]:

• Name what the icon does. A marketplace is a way to install apps. It is not an app itself, and the apps it offers are not reviewed by Apple. The marketplace’s review policy is the marketplace’s own [source: apple-alt-app-distribution].
• Name what the configuration does not do. Ask to Buy, Family purchase sharing, and the in-app-purchase restriction do not extend to alternative-marketplace purchases [source: apple-alt-app-distribution]. The child who knows this does not mistake a Yes for a no.
• Re-decide at the next iOS major release. A major release can reset Content & Privacy Restrictions to default [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions]. The review cycle belongs on the family’s review list, alongside the birthday-driven re-check in the age-band article [source: consumer-ftc-parental-controls].

The point of closing the App Marketplaces toggle is not to forbid the child’s software use. It is to keep the parent-side review of that use intact. The closing is a route choice, not a verdict.

Sources

• apple-alt-app-distribution — Apple Support, “About alternative app distribution” (EN, retrieved 2026-06-18). The DMA-driven availability and the purchase-flow exclusions.
• apple-alt-app-distribution-de — Apple Support, “Informationen zu alternativen App-Anbietern” (DE). German corroboration of the feature boundary.
• apple-alt-app-restrictions — Apple Support, “How to help ensure you only install apps from the App Store” (EN, retrieved 2026-06-18). The parent-facing restriction path and the iOS-major-update re-check.
• apple-alt-app-restrictions-de — Apple Support, “Sicherstellen, dass Apps ausschließlich aus dem App Store installiert werden” (DE). German corroboration of the restriction path.
• apple-eu-alternative-distribution — Apple Developer, “Apps distributed in the EU: DMA support” (EN). The platform statement that Screen Time continues to function for alternatively distributed apps.
• digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-citizens — European Commission, “Digital Markets Act: EU citizens Q&A”. The citizen-facing summary of the regulation.
• digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-factsheet — European Commission, “How the DMA is making smartphones better” factsheet (EN, 2026-05-11). The mobile ecosystem case studies.
• apple-region-rules — Apple Support, “Region-specific rules for managing an Apple Account” (EN, retrieved 2026-08-16). The per-country age thresholds and the Apple Account recovery path.
• euconsent-gdpr-art8 — GDPR Article 8. The legal basis for the per-country digital-consent age between 13 and 16.

[source: apple-alt-app-distribution] [source: apple-alt-app-distribution-de] [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions] [source: apple-alt-app-restrictions-de] [source: apple-eu-alternative-distribution] [source: digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-citizens] [source: digitalmarketsact-eu-dma-factsheet] [source: apple-region-rules] [source: euconsent-gdpr-art8] [source: consumer-ftc-parental-controls]