Apple proposes tiered commission structure for external App Store payments
The proposed rates range from 5 to 15 per cent, depending on the developer’s existing partnership status with the company.
Apple has submitted a formal proposal to a US court to charge a commission of between 5 and 15 per cent on purchases made through external payment systems outside its App Store. The submission forms part of the long-running antitrust litigation between the technology giant and Epic Games, which began in 2020.
The proposed fee structure is tiered based on the developer’s existing relationship with Apple. Under the proposal, a 15 per cent commission would apply to apps that currently pay the standard 30 per cent App Store fee. A 10 per cent rate would be applied to apps participating in specific partner programs, including News, Video, and Mini Apps, as well as for subscription renewals. The lowest rate of 5 per cent would apply to apps enrolled in the Small Business Program.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is currently determining what constitutes a fair commission for these external transactions. This follows a 2021 order requiring Apple to allow developers to link to external payment systems to avoid the standard 30 per cent cut. Apple initially charged between 12 and 27 per cent on these external transactions, leading Epic Games to accuse the company of non-compliance.
Last year, Judge Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in contempt of court and ordered it to stop collecting fees from external payments entirely. While an appeals court upheld the contempt ruling after Apple appealed, it overturned the specific order prohibiting fee collection, leaving the determination of a fair fee to the trial judge.
The vast majority of developers on the platform qualify for the Small Business Program, where they have paid a 15 per cent commission on App Store billing since 2020. The final approved commission rate has not yet been determined, and the long-term impact of these structures on developer behaviour remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, Google is facing similar scrutiny in the same legal battle. The court recently ordered Google to remove "anticompetitive friction" that complicates the installation of third-party app stores on Android. Google opened its Play Store to external billing on 30 June this year and lowered its commission to 10 per cent regardless of the payment system used. It began allowing third-party app stores on the Android platform in July.
