Apple has announced significant updates to its developer policies to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), introducing a more intricate fee structure and relaxing restrictions around developers’ options for communicating payment alternatives to customers. The announcement, made on Thursday, arrived just ahead of a critical June 26 compliance deadline imposed by the EU, beyond which Apple would have faced further penalties.
This move follows prior regulatory action against Apple, where the company was fined €500 million for previous non-compliance under the DMA. EU regulators had warned of additional fines if the tech giant did not swiftly adapt its policies.
Among the substantive changes, Apple revised its earlier “anti-steering” rules, providing developers within the EU greater flexibility. Developers can now freely link to external payment methods for subscriptions and other in-app purchases through any medium, including websites, alternate app stores, or directly within the app itself. Importantly, these new links no longer require warning screens or specific wording that Apple had formerly mandated.
Instead of completely eliminating its existing Core Technology Fee (CTF), Apple has introduced a more complex set of charges. Developers will now pay an initial acquisition fee of 2%, coupled with a separate store services fee. This store services fee is variable—either 13% or 5% depending on the tier selected by the developer—with members of the Small Business program paying 10%.
Apple differentiated service tiers into two categories: Tier 1 developers gain access to foundational App Store offerings such as manual updates, app reviews, and anti-fraud mechanisms. Tier 2 offers a more robust suite of features, including marketing resources, automatic updates, detailed analytics, app curation, and personalization tools.
For developers opting to leverage external payment alternatives through the StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement (EU) Addendum, Apple has launched what it terms the Core Technology Commission (CTC), effectively replacing the prior Core Technology Fee structure. Previously, developers paid a flat €0.50 charge per app installation once their app surpassed 1 million downloads. Developers choosing alternative EU terms will continue under the existing setup for now, while those adopting standard EU terms will instead pay the new CTC fee—a 5% commission. The transition for all affected developers must be finalized by January 1, 2026.
In a public statement, Apple justified the introduction of the CTC as reflecting the value created through its continuous investments in technologies, tools, and services that enable app developers to innovate and thrive within its ecosystem.
These changes prompted immediate criticism from Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, whose previous lawsuit enabled developers in the United States to offer alternate payment methods within apps without Apple’s commission. Calling Apple’s latest adjustments “malicious compliance,” Sweeney argued that the policy was manifestly unfair and detrimental to competition in digital markets. He contended that Apple’s scheme effectively imposed an unfair levy and hurt commercial competitivenes for apps opting for competing payment systems in the App Store.
