Apple executive Phil Schiller acknowledged in February 2025 that the company’s 27% commission on some purchases made outside the App Store carried a significant risk of violating a court order in Epic Games’ case against Apple. That testimony was not itself a legal finding. A judge later found Apple had willfully violated the injunction, but the Ninth Circuit’s December 2025 decision narrowed and clarified parts of that ruling. The current dispute is more complicated than the headline claim that Schiller admitted Apple broke the law.
What the 27% fee fight is about
The dispute concerns Apple’s response to a 2021 injunction in Epic Games v. Apple. The order required Apple to stop preventing developers from telling users about other ways to pay for digital goods and services. Apple created a route for certain apps to link users to a website checkout, but charged a 27% commission on qualifying purchases made through those links.
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Epic argued that the commission, warnings, restrictions and reporting rules made external checkout so unattractive that Apple had preserved the practical effect of its anti-steering rules. Apple maintained that it continued to provide valuable platform services even when a payment was processed elsewhere. The legal question was not simply whether 27% was lower than 30%; it was whether Apple’s overall implementation complied with the injunction.
What the 2021 injunction required—and what it did not
After the original trial, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to stop barring developers from including links, buttons or other calls to action that direct users to purchasing mechanisms outside the app. These restrictions are commonly called anti-steering rules. The Supreme Court declined to hear the parties’ appeals on January 16, 2024, leaving the injunction in force.
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The order was not a blanket ruling that Apple was a monopolist across the App Store, nor did it require Apple to provide its distribution and platform services for free. The underlying antitrust judgment and the later question of compliance with the injunction are distinct parts of the case.
How Apple’s external-purchase route worked
Apple’s system used the StoreKit External Purchase Link entitlement. Qualifying apps could direct users to a website to complete an external purchase. Eligibility and implementation depend on storefront, region, app category and applicable terms; the U.S. injunction does not make the same link option available to every app worldwide. Apple’s entitlement documentation, App Review Guidelines and StoreKit documentation describe the relevant requirements and region-specific arrangements.
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In the arrangement at issue, Apple charged 27% on qualifying linked-out transactions, compared with the ordinary 30% commission discussed in reporting about the case. The external route also involved disclosures, restrictions and reporting obligations. The fee was only one part of the system the court examined.
What Schiller testified
At a February 2025 evidentiary hearing, Schiller, an Apple Fellow who oversaw the App Store, testified that he initially opposed the 27% rate. Contemporary reporting said he described a significant compliance risk because the rate was close to Apple’s ordinary 30% commission, and that he questioned whether Apple could charge any commission on external transactions. He also expressed concern about antagonizing developers and about developers refusing to pay or underreporting commissions. Reporting said senior executives, including Tim Cook, took part in the decision-making, and that Schiller ultimately signed off on the structure. (Thurrott’s February 25, 2025 account.)
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That is evidence about Apple’s awareness of risk and its decision-making—not a judicial finding, or a personal confession by Schiller, that Apple had violated the order. The February hearing examined how Apple designed its policy, what executives knew and how the system worked in practice, including its effects on developers and external purchases.
Why the fee mattered to developers
A 27% commission can leave little room for savings once an outside payment processor is added. For illustration, on a $100 purchase, a 27% Apple commission leaves $73 before processor fees and other costs. If a processor charged 3% of the transaction, the developer would retain about $70 before taxes and other expenses. The 3% figure is an example, not a universal processor rate; reported external processing costs have varied, and actual results depend on the provider, taxes, refunds, currency conversion, subscription terms and the developer’s Apple agreement.
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Apple’s standard 30% figure and the 27% external rate are not a complete cost comparison. An external transaction may also require the developer to manage fraud, refunds, chargebacks, tax collection, subscription renewals, customer support and account linking. Depending on the applicable arrangement, Apple may require transaction reporting and related disclosures.
Users may also lose some App Store billing conveniences. Apple says external transactions may not appear in App Store purchase history and may not support features such as Family Sharing, Ask to Buy or Report a Problem in the same way. Those details on Apple’s EU App Store update explain Apple’s EU arrangements; they should not be treated as a statement of the U.S. injunction’s legal meaning.
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Epic’s challenge and Apple’s defense
Epic’s argument
Epic’s position was that a 27% charge left developers with only a small reduction from the usual 30% commission, while outside payment fees could erase that difference. Apple’s warnings, link rules and reporting requirements could add further friction for users and developers. In Epic’s view, Apple had changed the formal rules without making external purchasing a meaningful competitive alternative.
Apple’s rationale
Apple has argued that it provides value beyond payment processing, including distribution and discovery, app review, security, platform technology, app delivery, management and developer tools. Its EU materials use a similar value-based explanation for certain commissions and external-purchase arrangements. That is Apple’s commercial justification; it does not establish whether the U.S. implementation complied with the injunction. Critics, including Epic, dispute whether the fee and restrictions were justified or preserved Apple’s control over the customer relationship.
How the rulings changed the picture
| Date | Event | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| September 2021 | District court issues the anti-steering injunction. | Apple must allow developers to communicate with users about external purchasing methods, subject to the order’s scope. |
| January 16, 2024 | Supreme Court declines to hear the parties’ appeals. | The injunction remains in force. |
| February 2025 | Schiller testifies at a compliance hearing. | His testimony describes Apple’s risk assessment and policy decisions; it is not itself a court ruling. |
| April 30, 2025 | Judge Gonzalez Rogers finds Apple willfully violated the injunction. | The district court concludes that Apple’s implementation violated the order. |
| December 11, 2025 | The Ninth Circuit affirms in part, reverses in part and remands. | Parts of the district court’s order remain, but the appellate court clarifies that Apple is not categorically barred from charging a commission or fee on linked-out purchases permitted by the district court on remand. |
The appellate ruling matters because it prevents a broad reading of the district court outcome as a permanent ban on any fee for external purchases. The Ninth Circuit left portions of the April order intact while modifying or limiting others and sending aspects back for further proceedings. Its opinion does not mean the entire case was overturned or that the dispute is over. The opinion is available from the Ninth Circuit.
What developers and users should take from it
For developers, the case does not create a universal right to add an external checkout link in every country or app. Storefront rules, entitlements, product categories and contracts matter. A developer evaluating an external-payment option should compare the applicable Apple commission and reporting terms with processor charges, tax and refund responsibilities, subscription handling, customer-support costs and the value of App Store billing features.
- Check the current entitlement and storefront rules that apply to the specific app and customer region.
- Model the full transaction cost rather than comparing 27% with 30% alone.
- Account for external checkout friction: users may need to leave the app, sign in or create an account.
- Do not assume that a lower platform fee will produce lower consumer prices; developers may keep prices unchanged.
For users, an external-payment option can offer another way to buy, but the checkout experience, purchase history, refunds and support may differ from Apple billing. The value of the option depends on the developer’s implementation and the terms available in the user’s region.
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