Apple is no longer permitted to charge fees on purchases made outside App Store apps
A judge in the United States has ruled that Apple’s 15-30 percent commission fee on purchases made outside the App Store apps is anti-competitive and must stop.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers just killed Apple’s anti-steering rule in the Epic Games v. Apple case, saying Apple cannot charge a 15-30 percent commission fee on purchases that iPhone owners make outside the App Store apps. As a result, third-party developers can now accept web payments without paying Apple’s fee.
Apple charges a commission on all in-app payments and subscriptions made through its In-App Purchase mechanism, which provides seamless billing and a number of other benefits. The main point of contention between third-party developers like Epic Games and Apple has been external purchases made on the web, like V-Bucks for Fortnite.
Epic Games v. Apple outlaws fees on purchases made outside the App Store
Apple thinks it’s entitled to a cut on web purchases, but the judge called it anticompetitive behavior, slamming the company for “willfully” avoiding to comply with the previous injunction from the original 2021 ruling.
“That [Apple] thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation,” the judge said. The original ruling said Apple must let developers tell users about alternative payments available on the web.
Instead of complying with the ruling, Apple created a new policy demanding that developers pay a 27 percent commission on such purchases. The judge called out Apple in today’s ruling for seeking to “maintain a revenue stream worth billions in direct defiance of this court’s injunction.”
She added that Phil Schiller, who runs the App Store, advised Apple’s boss Tim Cook to comply with the decision, but that Cook “chose poorly” by letting finance chief Luca Maestri “convince him otherwise.”
NO FEES on web transactions. Game over for the Apple Tax.
Apple’s 15-30% junk fees are now just as dead here in the United States of America as they are in Europe under the Digital Markets Act. Unlawful here, unlawful there.
4 years 4 months 17 days. https://t.co/RucrsX7Z4A pic.twitter.com/3kSYnt5pcI
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 30, 2025
Things Apple can no longer do
The 80-page ruling explicitly prohibits Apple from charging any commission fee on purchases made outside an app. Apple also imposed heavy restrictions on how third-party developers inform people within apps that other payment options are available on the web. Those restrictions are gone now, as the ruling prohibits Apple from blocking or limiting the use of such buttons or other calls to action.
Apple is barred from restricting developers’ style, formatting or placement of links for purchases outside of an app. And when you decide to click a button to make a purchase outside of an app, Apple cannot throw up any scare screens; according to the ruling, the only messaging allowed here is “a neutral message apprising users that they are going to a third-party site.”
More transparency for everyone
Companies specializing in web and in-app payments like RevenueCat have already seized the opportunity, so RevenueCat just announced that developers can now use its Paywalls service to point customers to the web for checkout.
The screenshots RevenueCat shared illustrate why the judge’s ruling is going to cost Apple dearly: the in-app buttons and the wording make it perfectly clear that you can buy the same subscription on the web up to thirty percent cheaper. Thirty percent is nothing to sneeze at, especially in an economy like this.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced on X that Fortnite is returning to the App Store in the United States as early as “next week.” He also floated a peace proposal to the iPhone maker, saying that “If Apple extends the court’s friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we’ll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic.”
Fortnite is available as a direct download on iPhone in the European Union as of February 2024 as a result of Apple’s compliance with the Digital Markets Act.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/05/01/epic-games-versus-apple-ruling-app-store-purchases-fees-external-payments-anti-steering-in-app-subscriptions/
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