EU Forces Google to Open Android AI Features to Rivals by 2027

The European Commission has issued a binding specification ordering Google to grant rival AI assistants the same deep access to Android that its own Gemini currently enjoys—camera, microphone, on-screen content, display-off wake-word detection, and the ability to drive other apps through simulated taps and keystrokes. Google must deliver these capabilities in the next major release, Android 18, with a hard deadline of 1 August 2027. The ruling, adopted on 16 July under the Digital Markets Act, follows proceedings opened on 27 January and directly affects the roughly 60% of European mobile users running Android.

A second specification compels Google to share anonymized search query, click, and ranking data with rival search engines and AI chatbots for a cost-based fee. Neither decision carries a fine; specification proceedings define what a gatekeeper must build, leaving the Commission's separate non-compliance and penalty powers fully intact. The Android order covers 11 operating system features, split between five "restricted" capabilities requiring app certification—including AppSearch, the proactive Magic Cue context engine, App Actions and Functions, Computer Control screen automation, and broad system integration—and six unrestricted features open to any third-party app. The latter set is particularly aggressive: ambient sensor data (microphone, camera, screen contents, location, accelerometer) flows continuously in the background under Google's own lightweight consent prompts, not the heavier runtime consent that third parties currently face. Hotword detection rides the low-power DSP, surviving locked screens and battery saver mode while recording until the request ends. Paragraph 119 bars Google from restricting which apps or use cases may invoke these features, closing the self-preferencing loophole at the OS layer.

The practical impact for certified rivals is significant—access to Gmail drafting, Calendar management, Drive and Docs retrieval, Maps navigation, YouTube playback and history, SMS/MMS/RCS read-write in Messages, and outbound phone calls, all the surfaces Google Workspace and Pixel users already enjoy. For users, the order reduces friction when choosing non-Google assistants but also widens the pool of apps that can continuously tap sensors in the background. Anyone reviewing what their phone is exposing can start with a privacy checkup to baseline their current exposure, then run a browser fingerprint test to see how uniquely their device is identifiable across sessions. With consent prompts set to loosen for third parties alongside Google's first-party services, the next eighteen months will determine whether platform-level openness translates into genuine competitive AI on Android—or simply expands the surveillance surface area under a different logo.