Bluetooth accessory maker Tile has written to the European Union accusing Apple of abuse of power and of illegally favoring its own products.
According to a report by Financial Times, in a letter sent on Tuesday to the European Commissioner for Competition, the accessory maker said that Apple is making it harder for users to use Tile products on iPhone because it has its own rival Find My app.
In a letter sent to European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Tuesday, California-based tracking app maker Tile argued that Apple was making it more difficult for users to operate its product on their smartphones compared to Apple's own rival application, FindMy, by selectively disabling features that allow for seamless user experience.
Tile asked the EU to investigate Apple's business practices, echoing previous calls made by the accessory maker in the United States. Specifically, Tile complains about changes Apple made to location services in iOS 13, which encourage customers not to use always-on location tracking. In addition, Tile said changing these options involve navigating between "complex settings not easy to find."
The report notes that Apple is also rumored to be launching its own AirTags item tracking tags soon. MacRumors uncovered evidence of AirTags within iOS 13 code last year. The tags will be closely integrated with the new Find My app, which will be getting an "Items" tab. Users will receive a notification when they are separated from a tagged item, and if necessary, they can set an AirTag to start making sounds to help locate the lost item.
In the letter, Tile goes on to claim that its product is being denied "equal placement" on the App Store and that Apple has terminated its agreement to sell Tile products in its retail stores, perhaps with one eye on the upcoming launch of AirTags.
Apple responded to the letter with the following statement:
"We strenuously deny the allegations of uncompetitive behavior that Tile is waging against us. Consistent with the critical path we've been on for over a decade, last year we introduced further privacy protections that safeguard user location data. Tile doesn't like those decisions so instead of arguing the issue on its merits, they've instead decided to launch meritless attacks."
The EU has said it intends to reply to Tile's letter and will launch preliminary investigations following the allegations.
Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below.
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Friday October 31, 2025 1:40 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a small but helpful change for iPhones, and it could prevent you from running late to something important.
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The new ...
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Apple has just given a strong indication that it will not be releasing any additional new Macs for the remainder of the year.
Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh dropped the hint during the company's earnings call on Thursday:On Mac, keep in mind, we expect to face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter.Parekh essentially gave a heads up ...
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The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
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One thing worth...
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Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
...
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Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out.
Processor and Performance
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Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models could be available in new rich and warm color option, according to a known leaker.
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Apple launched the Apple TV HD, the Siri Remote, tvOS, and their accompanying App Store a decade ago today, marking a major overhaul of the device.
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Because macOS Catalina, iOS 13, and Apple Music are the best examples about good programming. The irony at it best.
They are when you look at the Apple ecosystem in its entirety.
Apple Music on its own may seem unspectacular, but what about Apple Music streaming on the Apple Watch and controlled via Siri? Think about the work that goes into not just Apple Music, but also the Apple Watch (and cellular connectivity) to make everything come together.
And it’s ironic that you bring up iOS 13 and Catalina, because it factors into my next few points below.
The number of ways Tile loses out to Apple, off the top of my head.
1) Their hardware / software experience was never great. I used it a couple of years back, and it was just full of bugs. Connectivity problems, severe battery drain, and low install base overall.
2) Tile has a huge ecosystem disadvantage compared to Apple. Apple can do things for free that Tile requires a subscription for. Tile can never run fully backgrounded or have access to iOS at a system level.
3) No matter how many tiles are sold, it will be way less than the number of devices running iOS 13 or macOS Catalina. In countries like Singapore, iPhones are commonplace but tile devices are practically non-existent (based on the last time I used them).
4) Apple has a very compelling privacy and encryption story for “Find my”. They use a key that is unique and changes for every device so even if someone can see all the pings in the real world, it cannot be tied back to a user. It’s very compelling and well-thought-through and it’s something Tile will never be able to match on an engineering level.
Even if Tile somehow gets Apple to capitulate on (2), they still lose out in all the other areas. There is no reason why I would get a Tile over the Airtags (when they do get released), and the reason for this is very simple - Airtags are going to offer a better user experience overall.
And Apple has earned this because of all the work that goes into making their own platform, and I think there is a lot more clever programming and engineering that goes on behind the scenes than people give Apple credit for.
I don't want to be tracked in the first place, and thankfully Apple makes that more difficult. If Tile can't get behind user privacy I don't want any part of them.
