Apple’s U.S. App Store now allows developers link to outside payment methods; Apple will still charge commission
After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal, Apple is changing its U.S. App Store guidelines. App developers are now able to direct customers to an outside purchasing option for digital goods via a single link to a developer website that leads to the purchase alternative. Apple will continue to collect a commission ranging from 12%-27% on content purchased this way.
[T]he U.S. storefront will soon feature a link to their website where subscriptions and other content can be purchased outside of the App Store in-app purchase system, likely with a discounted price.
Developers who want to offer this option will need to apply for a StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement, as Apple has outlined in both updated App Store Review Guidelines and the statement of compliance submitted to the Northern California U.S. District Court. With a Link Entitlement, a developer is able to direct a user to an out-of-app purchasing mechanism using an external purchase link.
Apple’s App Store warning dialog box
Developers may apply for an entitlement to provide a link in their app to a website the developer owns or maintains responsibility for in order to purchase such items. Learn more about the entitlement. In accordance with the entitlement agreement, the link may inform users about where and how to purchase those in-app purchase items, and the fact that such items may be available for a comparatively lower price. The entitlement 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 may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.
If your app engages in misleading marketing practices, scams, or fraud in relation to the entitlement, your app will be removed from the App Store and you may be removed from the Apple Developer Program. – Apple
[N]otably, Apple will collect a commission on purchases made using these Entitlement Links. Rather than 30 percent, Apple will collect a 27 percent fee on user purchases or year-one subscriptions made through the link. On the second year of a subscription, the commission fee drops to 12 percent, which is three percentage points lower than the 15 percent fee that Apple collects from second-year or longer subscriptions made through the in-app purchase system. Apps that participate in the App Store Small Business Program will be charged a 12 percent commission rate.
The commission will apply to transactions for digital goods and services that take place on a developers website within seven days after a user taps through an External Purchase Link to an external website.
MacDailyNews Take: Beautiful! We would’ve kept it at 30% and 15%, but hey, it looks more “compliant” this way.
This is akin to a judge forcing Best Buy and Target to place signs next to each product that advertise lower prices for the same items at Walmart…
If developers like Epic Games want to advertise lower prices [to be had elsewhere via] Apple’s App Store, Apple should simply begin charging an “In-Store Advertising” fee, because that’s exactly what it would be. – MacDailyNews, July 27, 2023
It’s Apple’s App Store. Of course they have a right to charge commissions.
Apple’s App Store isn’t a charity and it’s not free to operate. – MacDailyNews, November 14, 2022
How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022
That said, as we wrote in December 2022:
Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).
iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.
These moves, including removing the mandate to use WebKit, Apple’s Safari browsing engine, in third-party browsers, will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the threat of anti-trust actions against Apple for the foreseeable future.
Also, expect Gatekeeper to come to iOS and iPadOS from macOS.
Yes, Apple’s App Store revenue will take a hit, but there are new products for new markets on deck (AR/VR headsets, AR glasses, Apple Car, etc.) that will more than make up for any loss of App Store exclusivity.
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple’s U.S. App Store now allows developers link to outside payment methods; Apple will still charge commission appeared first on MacDailyNews.
