What Is Apple's Walled Garden?

By Jeremy Bowman – Updated Jun 11, 2025 at 11:24 PM

Key Points

Apple's "walled garden" strategy limits device interoperability but ensures product quality and ecosystem security.
This approach enhances user experience across Apple devices and secures high profit margins from App Store sales.
Regulatory changes in the EU may challenge Apple's walled garden, urging modifications for broader compatibility.

Apple (AAPL -0.31%) is one of the world's most powerful companies, with an installed base of over 2 billion devices, including its iPhones, Macs, iPads, and wearables. There are a number of reasons for its dominance, but part of it can be attributed to its walled garden, or closed-platform approach.

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NASDAQ: AAPL

Apple

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$4012B

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What is Apple's Walled Garden, exactly?

Apple's walled garden is a metaphor for its closed-platform software approach. Apple's ecosystem has earned the moniker "walled garden" due to its protective approach to its ecosystem and technology, including high-security measures. There are also a number of restrictions on developers and users of its devices.

Economic Moat

An economic moat is an advantage that makes it more difficult for a business' rivals to compete.

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Will Apple's walled garden ever go away?

Not everyone likes Apple's walled garden. Some consumers complain that it makes Apple devices less compatible with other devices. Still others argue that it allows Apple to be risk-averse, which explains why it's been later than its competitors to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) product, although it just announced Apple Intelligence.

There are, however, some signs that Apple's walled garden isn't as strong as it once was. Legislation passed in the European Union will force Apple to take steps to open its App Store and make other things more compatible. For example, Apple said it would bring Rich Communication Services (RCS), an interoperable messaging system, to the iPhone. Doing so will make it easier for iPhone users to send messages to Android devices and vice versa.

However, Apple is likely to fight to maintain the walled garden. The strategy has worked well for it and underpins the interconnectivity of its ever-growing family of devices. While Apple might tweak that strategy, especially to appease regulators, investors should expect the walled-garden approach to persist.

What's an example of the walled garden?

The walled garden includes the large number of Apple's proprietary products, like iMessage, Apple Pay, the App Store, and iCloud, designed to function primarily with Apple devices. Trying to access a product like iCloud from a non-Apple device would give users less functionality.

Similarly, Apple uses proprietary software to run on proprietary hardware, an important difference from rivals like Google and Microsoft, which partner with other hardware companies to run their software. By enabling Apple to own the entire ecosystem, the walled-garden approach has given the company a strategic approach and is a key driver of its success.

About the Author

Jeremy Bowman has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst, covering technology, consumer goods, and macroeconomic trends since 2011. Before The Motley Fool, Jeremy was a newspaper reporter, restaurant manager, and English teacher abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and a master’s degree in business administration from American University. One of his Motley Fool headlines was briefly featured on Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.