The European Parliament has adopted the Digital Markets Act, a new law that will impact major tech giants such as Apple, Meta, and Google. One significant aspect of the law is that it allows all platforms to distribute apps through alternative digital stores, opening up new opportunities for competition. Taking advantage of this permission, Meta has announced its plans to modify the Facebook app, aiming to challenge the dominance of the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

Users may download apps via Facebook ads

With the introduction of the Facebook app store, users will have the ability to download apps directly from ads, bypassing the need to visit the traditional app stores. Meta intends to expand its Facebook platform for app developers, offering them the opportunity to distribute their apps directly through the Facebook app.

By doing so, Meta aims to create a new market model and differentiate itself from Apple and Google. Given that Meta’s revenues primarily come from advertising, it seems logical for Facebook to become an alternative app store.

While Google had previously been working on developing AR glasses called Apple Vision Pro, the project has now been canceled. On the other hand, Facebook Ads currently allows advertisers to promote apps, but users are redirected to the respective app stores based on their operating system. Meta plans to revolutionize this structure by enabling users to download apps directly through Facebook.

It is important to note that while sideloading (APK installation) is possible on Android devices, this option is not available on iOS. This means that the only platform where users can download apps is the App Store, and Apple has expressed a strong opposition to sideloading.

Facebook’s approach is expected to involve distributing apps featured in ads through an alternative version available outside of the Google Play Store and App Store. Additionally, Meta has stated that it will not initially take a cut of the sales generated through app ads.