Apple changes App Store rules in EU to comply with regulators

27/6/2025 6:22

Apple on

Thursday changed rules and fees in its App Store in the European

Union after the bloc's antitrust regulators ordered it to remove

commercial barriers to sending customers outside the store.



Apple said developers will pay a 20% processing fee for

purchases made via the App Store, though the fees could go as

low as 13% for Apple's small-business program.



Developers who send customers outside the App Store for

payment will pay a minimum fee of 5% and at most 15%. Developers

will also be able to use as many links as they wish to send

users to outside forms of payment.



The changes are aimed at trying to help Apple avoid a 500

million euro ($570 million) fine threatened by EU antitrust

regulators in April.



“The European Commission is requiring Apple to make a series

of additional changes to the App Store. We disagree with this

outcome and plan to appeal," Apple said in a statement.



In a statement, the European Commission said it will now

review Apple's changes for compliance with the Digital Markets

Act.



"As part of this assessment the Commission considers it

particularly important to obtain the views of market operators

and interested third parties before deciding on next steps," the

Commission said in a statement.



In a statement posted on social media site X, Tim

Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, which fought a protracted antitrust

lawsuit with Apple, called Apple's changes "a mockery of fair

competition in digital markets. Apps with competing payments are

not only taxed but commercially crippled in the App Store."



Apple did not immediately respond to a request for

comment on Sweeney's remarks.