App Store

As expected, Apple has today formally appealed the €500 million fine it received from the European Commission for allegedly violating the Digital Markets Act.

Apple last week announced an insanely complex set of changes to its App Store terms in the EU, and hidden in the small–print is one sign that the company might be reducing its standard commission from 30% to 20%, and that it may make this change globally.

If so, it would be the first time the company has ever reduced its 30% cut for all developers, and might go a long way to tackling its legal battles with antitrust regulators around the world …

In April, Apple was fined 500 million euros for violating the Digital Markets Act in the European Union. Since that penalty was announced, however, the company hasn’t detailed any further changes to its App Store Guidelines to avoid future fines.

A new report from the Financial Times today says that Apple is “locked in last-minute” negotiations with the European Commission about ways to ease its App Store anti-steering provisions.

You know it’s a day that ends in “y” when there’s a new App Store lawsuit. This time, the issue isn’t antitrust or developer rejection complaints, but rather a class action accusing Apple of facilitating the spread of cryptocurrency scams by allowing a fake trading app onto the App Store. Here’s what happened.

Apple is giving App Store developers a long-overdue tool to better promote in-app purchases, including for games. Starting later this year, developers will finally be able to generate and distribute promo codes for any type of in-app purchase, not just subscriptions. Here’s how it’s going to work.

Ahead of WWDC next week, Apple is out with a new report today touting how the App Store “helps developers reach new heights.” According to Apple, the global App Store “supported” $1.3 trillion in billings and sales in 2024.

This comes after Apple touted the $406 billion impact of the App Store in the United States alone last week.

Update: Apple has responded to the ruling with a statement provided to 9to5Mac, saying it “strongly disagrees” with the court’s opinion. You can find the full statement below.

Apple has just taken yet another hit in its ongoing legal standoff with Epic Games. As reported by Reuters, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Apple’s emergency request to pause key parts of a lower court order that forces the company to immediately open its App Store to greater competition.

Two payment companies have teamed up to let developers sell in-app purchases outside the App Store, offering a single service that works across iOS and web.

Even small businesses can save money on the deal, paying 10% on payments of under $10, and 5% plus $0.50 above that threshold. For users, the experience is almost as seamless as Apple’s own system when you opt to use Apple Pay …

At The Information’s The Future of Influence event on Tuesday, Substack co-founder and CEO Chris Best praised recent changes to Apple’s App Store policies, calling them “fantastic”, and a major win for independent media.

Apple has for years been fighting antitrust battles all around the world, most of them concerning the App Store, and most of them coming down to a single issue: having monopoly control over the sale of iPhone apps.

Opinions on both sides of the debate are strongly held, and there’s little sign of that changing anytime soon – but it seems to me that there is one thing we could perhaps all agree on …

A new Apple-funded study performed by Analysis Group says that the United States App Store “facilitated over $400 billion in developer billings and sales in 2024.” This marks 2.9x growth in the ecosystem since 2019, according to the study.

After a heavy lobbying campaign that included Apple CEO Tim Cook personally calling Texas Governor Greg Abbott to veto Texas Senate Bill 2420, known as the App Store Accountability Act, the bill was signed into law today.

Apple is currently under fire for its App Store practices, with the most prominent recent issue being rules around in-app payment methods. Today the company has outlined the many ways its rules have protected users from attempted fraud, and thus saved those users billions.

Tim Cook is personally involved in an attempt to stop a Texas child safety bill targeting the App Store from becoming law, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Apple introduced app privacy labels to help people better understand what data an app may collect, including what data is linked to them or used to track them across the web. When released back in 2020, the labels set a precedent in the industry and were a major first step in raising awareness of privacy-invasive apps. It became easy for users to compare something like Signal, which collects virtually no user data at all, and Facebook Messenger, which gobbles up anything and everything it can. The feature set out to help users make informed downloads.

However, in recent years, I have seen a growing conversation around whether these entirely self-reported labels located further down on the application’s App Store page still impact the user’s decision before hitting “Get” to install.

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Spotify was one of the first companies to take advantage of recent changes to the App Store Guidelines. The company swiftly submitted a new version of its app with links that make it easier for users to subscribe to Spotify Premium using external payment methods.

In an amicus brief filed in support of Epic Games this week, Spotify touts that it has already seen a measurable increase in Premium subscription conversions thanks to these changes.

Epic Games made good on its recent promise by bringing Fortnite back to the iPhone and iPad in the U.S. after a federal court injunction forced Apple to change App Store rules around payments and commissions. Nearly five years after its removal, the game returns with a major change. Still, Fortnite is only available through the App Store in one region, and there are several reasons it could be removed again.

Microsoft has filed a court brief in support of Epic Games, blaming Apple for its delay in plans to open an Xbox mobile store using.

While Apple yesterday allowed Fortnite back into the US App Store after some strong words from the judge, Microsoft says there’s still a very big problem …

After a nearly five-year hiatus, Fortnite is back on the App Store for iPhone and iPad users in the United States. Epic Games announced the return of the battle royale gaming app this afternoon, and you can head to the App Store now to download it.

Fortnite is also back in the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the European Union.

In the latest edition of the Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman outlined some of his expectations for how Apple will remain competitive in the App Store payment processing market. Late last month, a judge ruled that Apple’s 27% commission on external payments was illegal. Many large developers have already begun implementing their own payment processing systems.

Last week, Epic Games resubmitted Fortnite to the App Store in the United States. This followed a court ruling that stated Apple wasn’t allowed to charge a 27% commission on payments conducted through external payment services on the U.S. App Store.

However, when it submitted the new version of Fortnite for app review, Epic Games didn’t hear back for quite some time.