Apple’s New App Store Policy Is Petty As Hell

Shots continue to be fired in the Epic v Apple case, that 2020 dustup that saw Fortnite removed from the App Store after Epic launched its own payment method in clear violation of Apple’s rules. Epic eventually mostly lost the case in 2021, with one win: Apple had to allow developers to link to external payment methods. Apple released information on how developers can do that today, and it’s extremely petty.

According to Apple’s new guidelines, the company will take a 27% commission on purchases made off the App Store. This is, if you’re counting, a 3% discount from the Store’s current fee (though the cut drops to 12% if a developer is part of Apple’s Small Business Program). Links to external purchases have to appear in a “single, dedicated location” on “no more than one app page the user navigates to,” open in a new browser window, and warn users that they’re leaving Apple. Apple even provides template language developers have to use.

Basically, Apple is giving Epic what it won, but in an onerous, unappealing way that provides little benefit to users or developers. It’s like someone paying a parking ticket in pennies. It would be very funny if these were individuals, but Apple is the biggest company in the world, protesting like a moody teenager over the part of the case it didn’t flat-out win. 

Apple notes in its court filing on the matter that “Although developers are contractually obligated to pay the commission, as a practical matter, with hundreds of thousands of developers with apps on the U.S. storefronts for the iOS and iPadOS App Stores, collection and enforcement will be exceedingly difficult and, in many cases, impossible.” Here’s Apple complaining about how hard its own rules are going to make life for itself! Developers are responsible for giving Apple its cut, though Apple reserves the right to audit their books. I wouldn’t roll the dice on sneaking by the requirements if I were a developer, but maybe you could justify it by saying you just wanted to make things easier on the poor, beleaguered, billion-dollar global behemoth that has to do all this math now. 

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in an extra-long tweet that “developers can't offer digital items more cheaply on the web after paying a third-party payment processor 3-6% and paying this new 27% Apple Tax” and that “Epic will contest Apple's bad-faith compliance plan in District Court.”  

This comes after the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals in the original case today, basically closing the book on any chance of a different outcome there. Epic did recently win its case over the same matter with Google, though the exact details of that outcome have yet to be revealed. While it would be totally fair to be tired of seeing Fortnite held up as the forefront of your rights as a consumer, I still live for this drama, so I’m excited to see what happens next.