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Apple was reportedly preparing “some” EU App Store concessions on June 23, 2025, as it faced a June 26 deadline to address the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) concerns. The dispute centered on anti-steering rules: whether developers could tell App Store users about cheaper or different offers, direct them to external purchasing options, and complete those transactions outside Apple’s payment system.
The report was not about Apple launching a new App Store or removing its commission worldwide. Apple announced broader EU changes on June 26, including expanded external-offer links, alternative purchasing destinations, new fee structures, and updates to alternative app distribution. The resulting system still includes Apple commissions, technology fees, reporting requirements, and trade-offs for users and developers.
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The short version
The original report, published on June 23, 2025, described last-minute negotiations between Apple and the European Commission. Apple was expected to announce unspecified concessions before the Commission’s June 26 compliance deadline.
At that point, the exact terms were not confirmed. The report indicated that Apple’s changes would address anti-steering restrictions and might also involve the Core Technology Fee. It did not establish a final commission rate, a particular user interface, or a complete removal of Apple’s fees.
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Apple later announced changes on June 26. Developers with apps available in EU storefronts could communicate and promote offers leading to a website, an alternative marketplace, another app, an in-app web view, or a native purchasing experience. Apple also revised its commercial terms and outlined a transition toward a single EU business model beginning January 1, 2026. See Apple’s announcement for its description of the changes.
That distinction matters financially. The EU changes created more ways to sell digital goods and subscriptions, but they did not turn App Store transactions into a fee-free system.
Why the European Commission fined Apple
On April 23, 2025, the European Commission found that Apple breached the DMA’s anti-steering obligation and imposed a €500 million fine. The Commission said Apple’s rules prevented developers from fully informing users about alternative purchasing options and steering them to those offers.
The Commission’s finding concerned more than the percentage Apple charged on an App Store transaction. It focused on whether developers could communicate with customers, promote alternative offers, and conclude contracts outside Apple’s core platform service.
Article 5(4) of the DMA requires designated gatekeepers to allow business users to communicate and promote offers to end users acquired through the gatekeeper’s service, and to conclude contracts with those users outside the gatekeeper’s core platform service. The Commission’s decision said Apple had to:
- Allow effective communication and promotion of offers.
- Allow contracts after steering without prohibited charges.
- Limit any payment for initial user acquisition to a proportionate amount related to that acquisition.
- Avoid fees that effectively compensate Apple for unrelated gatekeeper value after a customer has been steered elsewhere.
The Commission’s announcement is available at digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu. The related EUR-Lex decision summary sets out the compliance requirements.
What “anti-steering” means
Steering is the process of directing a customer from a platform to another purchasing destination. An anti-steering rule restricts that process.
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For example, under a restrictive policy, an app developer might be unable to tell a user that a subscription costs less on the developer’s website, include a link to that website, explain how to pay there, or complete the subscription after directing the user outside the app.
For developers, this can affect:
- Subscription pricing and promotional offers.
- Payment-processing choices.
- Customer acquisition costs.
- Control of billing relationships and customer support.
- The amount of revenue retained after Apple’s fees.
The Commission’s position was that Apple’s rules restricted the commercial relationship between developers and users acquired through the App Store, rather than merely regulating Apple’s own payment-processing service.
What Apple was reportedly preparing on June 23
The June 23 report should be read as a report about an expected announcement, not as a definitive description of the final policy.
What was established at the time:
- Apple was negotiating with the European Commission.
- Apple was expected to make “some concessions” involving EU anti-steering rules.
- The June 26 deadline was approaching.
- Negotiations had also touched on Apple’s Core Technology Fee, then described as €0.50 per first annual install above the applicable threshold for certain developers.
What was not established by that report:
- The final wording of Apple’s rules.
- The final commission and payment-processing rates.
- The exact links or purchasing experiences developers would receive.
- Whether the Core Technology Fee would be eliminated, reduced, or replaced.
Later events supplied those details. They should not be retroactively presented as though the June 23 report had specified every element of the June 26 announcement.
Why June 26 mattered
The Commission’s April decision gave Apple 60 calendar days from notification to end the non-compliant conduct. June 26 was the end of that compliance period.
The €500 million penalty and the possible consequences of missing the deadline were separate matters. The fine had already been imposed. The Commission’s decision also allowed for periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of Apple’s average daily worldwide turnover if Apple failed to comply.
That figure was a statutory ceiling, not an automatic daily charge. It was also based on average daily worldwide turnover, not 5% of Apple’s annual revenue every day. The Commission could assess Apple’s changes and determine whether additional enforcement was appropriate.
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What Apple ultimately announced
On June 26, Apple announced broader changes for apps in the European Union. Developers could communicate and promote offers for digital goods and services that led to:
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- A website.
- An alternative app marketplace.
- Another app.
- An in-app web view.
- A native experience within the app.
Apple also introduced new commercial terminology and structures, including an initial acquisition fee, a store-services fee, and a Core Technology Commission for certain transactions. The company described a planned transition toward a single EU business model beginning January 1, 2026.
Apple separately updated the experience for installing alternative marketplaces and apps downloaded from a developer’s website. Its current documentation says the updated installation experience began with iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6.
This was a meaningful expansion of distribution and payment options, but it was not unrestricted sideloading worldwide. The framework remained limited to the EU and subject to Apple’s contracts, eligibility rules, notarization, security controls, reporting requirements, and other technical conditions.
How the EU fee structure works
There is no single “new Apple fee” that applies to every EU developer. The cost depends on the developer’s chosen terms, transaction type, payment method, distribution channel, and eligibility for programs such as Apple’s Small Business Program or subscription reductions.
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| Apple payment processing | An additional 3% payment-processing fee may apply when the developer uses Apple’s payment processing under the alternative terms. |
| Third-party payment provider or website | Apple says it does not add its payment-processing fee when the developer uses a payment service provider in the app or links to a website. The provider’s fees and other applicable Apple charges can still apply. |
| Core Technology Fee | Under earlier alternative terms, qualifying apps could owe €0.50 for each first annual install above the one-million threshold. |
| Core Technology Commission | Apple’s later EU terms introduced a 5% Core Technology Commission for specified digital-goods or digital-services sales communicated and promoted in an app. |
These categories should not be collapsed into claims that Apple now charges either “5%” or “30%” in every case. A developer’s effective cost may include Apple’s commission, payment processing, technology charges, payment-provider fees, fraud tools, chargebacks, currency conversion, taxes, and customer-support costs.
Apple’s current explanation of the framework is available in its EU DMA developer documentation.
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What users may gain—and give up
Potential benefits
- More information about cheaper or different subscription offers.
- More ways to pay for digital goods and services.
- Greater visibility into alternatives to Apple’s payment system.
- Access to alternative marketplaces and developer-distributed apps in the EU, where the relevant requirements are met.
Competition may allow some developers to offer different prices or payment methods. However, a lower fee paid by a developer does not automatically mean a lower price for the customer.
Potential trade-offs
Apple says externally completed transactions may not appear in App Store purchase history and may not receive the same coverage from features such as Report a Problem, Family Sharing, or Ask to Buy. Apple also says users may need to share payment details with additional providers and may have less Apple-assisted support for refunds or fraud involving external transactions.
Those are Apple’s warnings, not a general Commission finding that external payment systems are unsafe. The Commission’s legal case focused on access, steering, and fees. In practical terms, users should check which company handles billing, refunds, recurring-payment cancellation, account recovery, and fraud disputes before paying outside Apple’s system.
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Developers gain the ability to promote external offers, use alternative payment providers, and in some circumstances distribute apps through alternative marketplaces or the web. They may also gain broader access to analytics and related APIs.
Those benefits come with operational responsibilities:
- Adopting new contractual terms.
- Reporting qualifying transactions.
- Calculating commissions and technology charges.
- Managing refunds, chargebacks, taxes, and customer support.
- Maintaining payment security and fraud controls.
- Explaining to customers when a purchase is outside Apple’s billing system.
Apple requires developers that communicate and promote external offers to use the External Purchase Server API to report transactions for fee calculation and collection.
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Should a developer use external payments?
Staying with Apple’s standard terms may make sense when a developer values Apple-managed payments, refunds, subscriptions, purchase history, Family Sharing, and simpler accounting. It may also be preferable when external sales are too small to justify new compliance and support costs.
Alternative terms may be worth evaluating when an app has substantial EU subscription or digital-goods revenue, the business already operates a payment stack, or external checkout would materially reduce total costs. The relevant comparison is not Apple’s commission alone. Developers should model:
- Apple fees under each eligible option.
- Payment-provider and currency-conversion charges.
- Fraud, chargeback, tax, and compliance costs.
- Conversion losses caused by sending users to a separate checkout.
- Customer-support and refund expenses.
- The value of App Store features that may no longer apply.
External payments can be financially attractive in one business model and uneconomical in another. “No additional Apple payment-processing fee” does not mean the transaction is free.
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Did Apple fully comply?
Apple announced changes intended to address the DMA dispute, and those changes expanded developer communication and distribution rights. But Apple’s announcement and the Commission’s legal assessment were separate events.
The Commission’s requirements covered effective steering, the ability to conclude contracts outside Apple’s platform, and limits on charges associated with those transactions. A cosmetic link change alone would not necessarily satisfy that framework. The available materials support saying that Apple changed its EU rules; they do not support stating without a specific later Commission decision that every element of Apple’s revised model was finally approved.
Developers should therefore treat Apple’s current documentation as the practical operating framework and distinguish it from the Commission’s continuing regulatory oversight.
What the dispute means for personal finance
For EU consumers, the main financial change is choice—with added responsibility. A subscription purchased through Apple may offer a familiar billing and refund experience. A subscription purchased through a developer’s website may have a different price, renewal process, cancellation path, and dispute-resolution process.
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For developers and subscription businesses, the dispute shows why platform economics cannot be judged by headline commission rates alone. The financially relevant question is the net cost of acquiring, billing, supporting, and retaining a customer under each permitted model.
What this did not mean
- It did not remove the App Store.
- It did not eliminate Apple’s fees in the EU.
- It did not create unrestricted sideloading worldwide.
- It did not automatically apply the DMA framework to the United States, United Kingdom, or countries outside the EU.
- It did not mean every developer qualified for the 10% commission or avoided technology fees.
- It did not prove that Apple’s revised terms had been universally accepted by the Commission.
The June 23 story was therefore an important regulatory development, but not the final policy itself. The final outcome was a conditional expansion of external purchasing and alternative distribution, combined with a more complicated set of commercial terms.
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