Apple overhauls EU App Store fees to settle its DMA dispute

Apple is overhauling its EU App Store fees to settle a long dispute with the European Commission. The company announced the changes on Tuesday, after what it called close collaboration with the Commission. Developers can sign the new terms today, and they take effect on 1 October.

The headline change is the end of the Core Technology Fee. That was a per-install charge on developers who bypassed the App Store. A 5 percent Core Technology Commission on digital transactions replaces it. Apple is also scrapping the initial acquisition fee and the store services fee.

Apple said the new model moves every EU developer onto a single set of business terms. “These changes resolve Apple’s disagreements with the Commission over business terms and alternative distribution,” the company said.

The new commission rates

Apple is adjusting its commissions across every route to market. The rates, from Apple’s own announcement, are as follows.

App Store apps using Apple’s In-App Purchase pay 26 percent. That drops to 15 percent for developers in the Small Business, Mini Apps or Video Partner programmes. It also drops to 15 percent for auto-renewing subscriptions after their first year.

Apps that use alternative payment processing inside the app pay 20 percent, or 10 percent for developers in those programmes. Apps that link out to the web to complete a purchase pay 15 percent, or 10 percent in the programmes. Apps distributed through a rival marketplace or the web pay only the 5 percent Core Technology Commission.

The standard App Store rate was 30 percent. Bloomberg reported that the 26 percent figure is a cut from that baseline. The new EU terms resemble the commission-based model Apple already runs in Japan and Brazil, according to Reuters.

Developers can now mix payment options

Under the new terms, developers can offer Apple’s In-App Purchase alongside alternative payment options in the same app. Apple had not permitted that combination in the EU before. The company said it comes with presentation requirements meant to give users a consistent experience.

There is a lock-in. Developers must choose their payment options and keep them for 12 months before changing. The choice covers Apple’s system, in-app alternatives, a web link-out, or a mix.

Apps sold outside the App Store still face a check. Every alternatively distributed app must pass Apple’s Notarisation review. The company describes that as a baseline check of functionality and protection from serious threats.

New child-safety rules on outside payments

Apple is adding child-safety measures to the alternative payment routes. It says they match protections already used in other markets. Apps in the Kids category will not carry links to websites to complete a transaction.

For users under 18, any app using alternative payment processing or a web link-out must include a parental gate. The gate pulls in a parent or guardian before a purchase. For users under 13, apps cannot link out to websites for transactions at all. Where an EU member state requires parental consent above the age of 13, Apple said the protections scale to match.

Who can run a rival app store

Apple is loosening the rules on who can operate an alternative marketplace or distribute through the web. The old requirement was a one million euro standby letter of credit from an A-rated bank, MacRumors reported.

A company now qualifies through any one of five routes. It can clear a moderate financial-stability bar scored by Dun & Bradstreet. It can be publicly traded, or owned by a public company. It can have taken venture funding from an established firm, or passed an audit by a licensed accountant. Government bodies, schools and nonprofits also qualify.

Apple attached a warning to web distribution, which exists only in the EU. Without a marketplace operator standing behind it, a bad actor can operate for a long time before anyone catches it, the company said.

How the dispute got here

The Commission welcomed the move. It “welcomes Apple’s changes to their business terms, which follow a close dialogue,” a spokesperson said, adding that the Commission will monitor how Apple implements them.

The overhaul answers a 2024 Commission investigation into whether Apple’s earlier DMA compliance actually complied, Bloomberg reported. In 2025 the EU fined Apple 500mn euros for blocking developers from steering customers to cheaper options outside the store.

Apple has been losing the wider fight. In July it lost its court challenge to its gatekeeper status under the DMA. Its Apple Intelligence features remain blocked in Europe amid the same standoff, and Tim Cook has been meeting EU officials to try to break it.

The EU is not the only front

The concession lands inside a wider retreat on App Store control. In Brazil, Apple opened iOS to rival stores in June after an antitrust settlement. Its rivals are pressing elsewhere too.

Google is under the same pressure. A US judge told it to stop blocking rival stores, and the first competitor walked into Google Play this month. Apple is still litigating what it can charge developers in the United States, Reuters noted.

Other stores already exist on the iPhone in Europe, including one backed by Epic Games, the Fortnite developer that has spent years fighting Apple over its fees. Bloomberg noted that the App Store remains far more lucrative for Apple than outside distribution, which is the incentive regulators have spent years trying to override.

Three things would show whether this settles anything. Whether developers actually shift to the cheaper routes now the per-install fee is gone, whether the Commission accepts the implementation it says it will monitor, and whether Apple offers similar terms in the United States, where it has so far refused.