Apple yesterday updated its App Store fees in the EU to comply with the Digital Markets Act and end its ongoing dispute with the European Commission. Apple has reduced core technology fees and simplified its pricing structure, so apps distributed in alternative markets or on the web will pay less than before.
When announcing the changes, Apple said it was working “closely” with the EC and that the updates would “resolve Apple’s disagreements with the Commission over commercial terms and alternative distribution.”
The European Commission has since confirmed that it approves Apple’s changes to its App Store policies, in a statement to Irish Independent:
The Commission welcomes Apple’s changes to their commercial terms, which follow a close dialogue between the Commission and Apple after the Commission issued a non-compliance decision related to Apple’s terms and conditions as well as preliminary findings related to alternative distribution of applications, both in April 2025.
Following today’s announcement, the Commission will monitor Apple’s effective implementation of the new conditions. Under the DMA, EU users have the right to fully and effectively choose alternative application distribution channels.
The EC says it will continue to monitor how Apple implements the new terms, which will take effect on October 1.
While the EC approved Apple’s planned changes, Apple’s legal opponent Epic Games was unhappy with the new pricing structure, decrying the “unwanted new fees.” Epic Games said Apple’s new terms do not comply with the Digital Markets Act and claimed that if the EC accepted the terms, the DMA would “become meaningless.”
Apple has announced unwanted new fees in the EU that do nothing to open the mobile app ecosystem to competition, as required by the Digital Market Act.
Apple will now charge:
• 20% fee on alternative payment options in the app
• 15% fee on links for making purchases outside of the apps
• 5% Core Tech commission on payments made in apps downloaded from alternative stores or on the webThe law makes clear that Apple must allow developers to provide links to the Web for purchases “free of charge” and must allow “effective use” of competing stores. Apple’s conditions deliberately violate the Digital Markets Act. If the Commission accepts the conditions and abandons its ongoing enforcement actions, the law will become meaningless and consumers and developers will not receive the benefits it was designed to provide.
Under the new terms, Epic Games will have to pay a base technology fee of five percent on digital purchases made through its Epic Games store on iPhone and iPad in the EU. For an app distributed through the App Store with a link to purchase options, Epic would have to pay 15%.
Apple is implementing lower pricing for participants in the Small Business Program, Video Partner Program, and Mini Apps Partner Program, and waiving the base technology fee for small markets. Epic Games does not benefit from reduced fees.
