In major App Store change, Apple lets developers link to outside payment platforms in the U.S.،
Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court decided not to hear Apple's appeal of the Epic v. Apple case. This means that Apple must now follow the decision of Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers who ruled in 2021 that Apple should allow developers to send their customers a link that would take them to a third-party platform to pay for purchases and payments. integrated subscriptions. .
Apple previously blocked developers from releasing such a link because it would allow them to avoid paying Apple its 30% cut on in-app purchases. But with the entry into force of the judge's decision, Apple changed its US App Store Guidelines so that it is consistent with the results of the Epic vs. Apple lawsuit. Developers will be allowed to connect to alternative payment platforms as long as the app also offers payments through Apple's in-app payment platform.
In the App Store Review Guidelines under section 3.1.1(a), Apple writes: “Developers may request the right to provide a link in their app to a website that the developer owns or is responsible for responsible in order to purchase such items… .In accordance with the right agreement, the link may inform users about where and how to purchase such items purchased in the application, and that such items may be available at a comparatively lower price.
The right is limited to use only in the iOS or iPadOS App Store on the United States storefront. In all other storefronts, apps and their metadata cannot include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.
A quick summary of the glaring issues we've found so far:
1) Apple introduced a new anti-competitive 27% tax on online purchases. Apple has never done this before, and it kills price competition. Developers cannot offer digital items cheaply on the web after paying a… pic.twitter.com/YkHuapG7xa
– Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2024
Don't worry if Apple doesn't benefit from the so-called Apple tax. Apple will still be entitled to a slightly lower 27% share of revenue generated by an in-app purchase if an external payment platform is used to process an in-app purchase. This drops to 12% if the developer is in the App Store Small Business program.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, whose lawsuit against Apple came after his popular game Fortnite was kicked from the App Store (and Google Play Store) for offering a link to its own payment platform integrated into the application in the game, was not satisfied with the changes announced by Apple. In a tweetSweeney called the 27% cut Apple receives on payments processed by a third-party platform “anti-competitive” and plans to “challenge the bad faith compliance plan in district court.”
