This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on January 13th, 2022.

Apple’s strict App Store rules are well known — but for China, the company keeps inventing exceptions. When the Chinese state launches its own cryptocurrency in the app store, expect Apple to bend its own rules once again.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, summed up the much-covered App Store trial in a single sentence: “Apple has complete control of all software on iOS.”

The App Store is owned by Apple, and therefore controlled by Apple. But should it be? By and large, yes — at least according to the recently concluded case. Apple won on nine of ten counts, giving it, in broad strokes, a free hand to keep dictating the terms of its own app store.

That’s exactly why it’s worth looking more closely at how these terms are actually enforced inside Apple’s ecosystem. And more specifically — when they aren’t enforced at all. In China, for instance, the exceptions have been more numerous than anywhere else. The market — one of Apple’s most important — has been one of Tim Cook’s top priorities since he took over as CEO. And to stay on the right side of Chinese authorities, Apple has had to make many departures from rules it holds to firmly elsewhere in the world.

There’s no shortage of examples.

Tencent, one of China’s (and the world’s) largest tech companies, has an app called WeChat. At first glance it looks like an ordinary chat app, but it functions increasingly like an entire mobile operating system of its own. You can talk to friends, pay for services and products — and install fully independent apps, inside WeChat itself. That may not sound particularly controversial, but it cuts against one of the most fundamental principles of the App Store. Or, as Philip Shoemaker, who was responsible for enforcing App Store rules until 2016, told The Telegraph:

“Apple grants WeChat a specific exception that they don’t grant anyone else in the world. It’s basically rule number one — you can’t have an app inside another app. WeChat is the only one allowed to.”

The exceptions go beyond the App Store.

Last summer Apple launched its privacy initiative “Private Relay” — a way to reduce data tracking of individuals. But the change didn’t apply in every country. Neither China, Saudi Arabia, nor Belarus was covered by the new policy.

Pulling apps that don’t suit China is an issue that has even reached Apple’s shareholders. Ahead of the March AGM, a proposal has been filed calling for Apple to give more transparency around apps that have been removed because of government pressure. Since 2017, 55,000 apps have disappeared from the Chinese App Store, according to the proposal. Apple’s board recommends that shareholders vote the proposal down.

Ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing comes the next challenge for Apple in China. The Chinese state has just launched a wallet app for the digital currency issued by the Chinese central bank. The idea is that the sports event will act as the launch for this new digital way to pay. That may sound smooth, but a senior official at the British intelligence service also described it as “the ability for a hostile state to surveil transactions”. The anonymity often touted as a benefit of cryptocurrencies risks being stripped right out.

The question now is whether Apple will also make an exception to its rules on cryptocurrencies in apps for China’s sake. Philip Shoemaker’s guess is that it will. Apple has taken a cautious stance on these apps until now, likely because the risk to individual consumers has been judged to be high. But if China’s aim is to build a parallel payment system, this may require yet another revision of the rulebook.

In many ways, Apple’s position has painted the company into a corner. On one hand, the picture of a mobile ecosystem that’s safe and secure is a foundational part of Apple’s self-image and its marketing. On the other, holding on to China as a large and growing market is of the highest possible priority. On top of that come new phenomena in the increasingly important gaming market that have been off-limits so far — so-called play-to-earn, a way to earn cryptocurrency through games. If Apple’s argument is that user privacy is the most important thing of all, it becomes hard to explain why the rules get adjusted as soon as a large and important market complains — or a new and profitable trend shows up.