Technology

Tuta Mail could soon be your default iOS mail app – but only after filing a complaint against Apple

April 3, 2025

Tuta Mail filed a DMA complaint against Apple on April 2, 2025, for failing to enable Tuta among the default mail apps on iOS
The encrypted email provider issued the complaint after allegedly waiting for months for a response from the Big Tech firm
The complaint was withdrawn less than 24 hours later as Apple finally got in touch with Tuta’s developers

Tuta Mail, an encrypted email service, filed a complaint against Apple on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. The action has been withdrawn, however, after less than 24 hours.

The German secure email provider decided to file a formal complaint against Apple for failing to enable its service among the default mail apps on iOS as required by the Digital Market Act. Tuta did so after allegedly waiting for months for a response to its request.

Yet, “after a journalist contacted Apple on the issue, Apple got in touch with us in a matter of hours,” wrote Tuta’s CEO Matthias Pfau on April 3 in an official announcement. “For this reason, we will withdraw the complaint to the EU, and Apple does not have to fear any consequences.”

Why did Tuta issue the complaint?

The Digital Market Act, which came into force last year, has introduced new obligations for Big Tech companies to prevent them from abusing their dominant position in the market.

For Apple, this means, among other things, giving everyone using an iPhone or iPad the choice of picking a third-party service as their default email application.

To enable their users to do this, the app’s developers need to follow the company’s guidelines and submit a formal request. Tuta Mail was said to have done so on January 14, 2025, but there was no response.

The team tried to get in touch with Apple via emails and X posts throughout March without much success.

Apple launched alternative default mail apps with the iOS 14 release in 2020, four years before the DMA rules went into force. Apple’s biggest competitors, Gmail and the popular encrypted service ProtonMail, are among the developers that have been successfully enabled as default mail apps since then.

Dear @Apple @tim_cook We’d like our users to be able to choose Tuta Mail as the default mail app on #iOSWe’ve contacted Apple devs as requested two months ago, sent a reminder, but so far – silence.Could you please connect us with the right people?#DefaultMailApp #AppleMarch 18, 2025

On April 2, Tuta then decided to file a formal DMA complaint against Apple for, as Pfau put it, “abusing its gatekeeping position against us.”

Less than 24 hours later, Tuta confirmed to TechRadar that Apple finally got in contact with the team “after a Reuters journalist wanted to get to the bottom of the matter with Apple,” Tuta’s Press Officer Hanna Bozakov told us.

Nonetheless, this was enough for Tuta to decide to withdraw its complaint against the Big Tech giant.

“The main problem here is that Apple will get away with this behavior. We withdraw the complaint because it’s pointless to keep it up, but next time, Apple can act in exactly the same way,” said Bozakov.

“We would like to see large technology companies use their market power responsibly, behave correctly and fairly and not only take action when threatened with bad publicity.”

Apple’s response

TechRadar approached Apple for comment, and the company told us that Tuta’s request was incomplete as it was missing the “mailto.” This is a URL scheme that’s needed for the correct function of default mail apps in iOS.

Apple also told TechRadar that the company reached out to Tuta’s developers as quickly as possible to help them resolve the issue.

Bozakov confirmed the mistake but said the team was informed only today (April 3) about this. “I’m pretty certain we would still be waiting for a response had the journalist not contacted them,” she added.

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