Apple changes EU App Store rules, but will fight Europe’s demands

Critics might argue that Apple at the 11th hour stepped forward with new rules for developers in Europe that might be acceptable to the region’s anti-trust regulators — but that’s not how Apple sees it. That company, which is appealing the rules Europe has applied to directly constrain its business, says regulators have not been transparent throughout the process, making arbitrary decisions despite constant communication between both sides on the matter.

Apple does, however, hope the changes it has now introduced to its steering arrangements for developers in will bring its business in line with Europe’s Digital Markets Act. It certainly has reasons to think so; Apple said it worked with the regulators on the arrangements and believes they bring it into harmony there. 

Apple announced the latest rounds of EU DMA-inspired changes via a Thursday note on its developer’s website.

Malicious compliance

But there is still a problem; Apple says that even though it’s been meeting intensively with European Commission regulators for more than a year, the experience has been a frustrating one. Regulators have continuously moved the goalposts on what compliance looks like. The company complains that they have even prevented Apple from implementing new solutions to bring its business into compliance and then fined the company for not making changes. 

This has placed a big burden on the company, which has had to invest thousands of hours in attempting to meet the Commission’s ever-changing demands. From what I hear, it’s akin to throwing darts at a board attached to a rope, allowing the board to move out the way once the dart is fired. It’s an unequal, opaque process seemingly designed for Apple to lose and perhaps in itself an articulation of malicious compliance — with malice from the regulators.

We’ll have to wait and see whether the changes Apple announced do actually meet European regulators’ demands. They should, as Apple is very much giving the impression they were introduced in collaboration with EC authorities. 

Apple will appeal

That doesn’t mean Apple accepts the changes it’s been forced to make. The company has until July 7 to appeal and will do so. Apple is quite open that it opposes the demands Europe has made of it and continues to warn that the patchwork of changes it introduced will erode security and privacy, dent the user experience, and make it harder for the company to innovate. 

Apple’s enemies, typically, remain critical of the changes. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who has spent millions on his assault on Apple business practices, slams the new terms as “blatantly unlawful,” calling them a “mockery of fair competition.”

I imagine Apple might suggest that they are inherently lawful and support Europe’s view of fair competition. The changes can loosely be grouped as changes in the way steering is supported on the platform, and changes in business terms.

What steering changes did Apple introduce?

In short, the changes comprise policy and payment tweaks and the removal of some restrictions.

One of the biggest alterations concerns the warning notice Apple provides users to warn them when they tap on external links. Critics had complained this mandatory warning got in the way of consumer choice and wanted it removed. It looks as if Apple partially won that argument, in that the warning will now appear the first time a user taps on an external link, but there is now an option to opt out of seeing the warning later when tapping external links in the same app.

In other words, you’ll be warned the first time you tap out from an app but can override future warnings if you trust the developer. Apple had wanted a warning to appear each time you tap an external link.

Additionally:

Changes apply to all developers, whether or not they have wanted to use alternative business terms in Europe.

Developers can use URLs in their apps that direct traffic to external websites, other apps, and alternative app marketplaces. They can also link to in-app promotions — and they can use multiple URLs inside their app, not just one as before. 

The links developers put inside their apps can collect additional user information through tracking parameters, redirects, and intermediate links. This will increase the burden on consumers to verify the security and privacy of a link they find in an app before they use it.

Apple had originally insisted developers use its own templates for interfaces to links and promotions; under the new rules, developers can freely design these.

What business changes has Apple made?

The company also changed its business terms in the EU. These do not apply to apps sold via third-party app stores, and they are not applied against offers directed from inside an app. But they do apply to links that direct users to the web, as well as in-app alternative payment service providers.

The deal is that Apple charges an Initial Acquisition Fee, a Store Services Fee and Core Technology charges.

In brief, these consist of:

Initial Acquisition Fee

This is designed to recognize Apple’s role in connecting users to developers.

A 2% fee on the sale of digital goods and services to new users.

The fee applies for the first six months after the user first downloads an app from the app store.

The fee is waived for developers in Apple’s Small Business Program

There is no fee for existing users.

Store Services Fee

Apple’s App Store offers a range of services to developers, who can now choose between a basic set of mandatory services, or the full collection of services:

Tier One Store Services: A 5% fee in exchange for which developers get trust and safety features, app management, and app distribution and delivery services. The fee does not extend to automatic app updates or automatic downloads across devices.

Tier Two Store Services: Set at 13% (or 10% for Small Business Program members), this fee gives developers access to all the services the App Store presently provides, including promotions, search suggestions, discovery, automatic downloads and automatic updates.

Core Technology charges

Developers signed up to Apple’s alternative terms in the EU will pay the previously announced Core Technology Fee of €0.50 per install for each first annual install over 1 million.

Developers on Apple’s standard business terms will now pay a Core Technology Commission of 5% on sales made through in-app promotion of alternate payments.

Apple will migrate all its European developers to the new fee structure by Jan. 1, 2026.

Where can I find out more about Apple’s European changes?

The company has published a range of pages describing the changes it has applied:

StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement Addendum for EU Apps.

Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps in the EU

Communication and promotion of offers on the App Store in the EU

What will happen?

I remain concerned about the dilution of warnings on the store and the lack of implicit control over what links developers use to direct their audiences to external traffic. I’m in no doubt whatsoever that these openings will be abused to form new attack surfaces over which Apple has little control. Enterprise users will no doubt use device management policy to forbid use of third-party payment services and installs in an attempt to protect corporate data.

Even more concerning: Apple’s accusations concerning its negotiations with the EC as if that body has been deliberately opaque, meaning enforcement of the DMA has very swiftly become a political weapon, perhaps in some unspoken European economic battle against the US. I doubt we’ve heard the last of this ongoing battle, which will likely last longer than the game that kicked it off.

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