Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of Apple’s appeal in its ongoing battle with Epic Games, the Cupertino-based company has announced several changes to its App Store Guidelines.
Moving forward, developers are allowed to link to alternate payment methods outside of the App Store as long as the app also offers the ability to purchase directly through Apple’s digital storefront. This means that while developers can now link out when charging users a fee, they’ll still need to include Apple as an option (this might be one of the most Apple moves Apple has ever made). Links can also be shown in an app individually and in a “single dedicated location.” In-app pop-ups or mentioning outside payments in App Store listings aren’t allowed.
According to 9to5Mac, developers can ask for an “entitlement,” allowing them to include buttons or links for out-of-app purchases. The full new App Store Guidelines read as follows:
“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.”
While a somewhat positive move for third-party App Store developers and a significant concession, Apple is still taking a commission from payments made through alternative platforms: 12 percent for developers who are part of the App Store Small Business Program and 27 percent for other apps. So, while the company has been legally forced to break down its walled garden in some ways, it still maintains tight control over payments.
To take this cut, developers will be required to provide accounting for all out-of-app purchases, but Apple admits that this, in some cases, will be “impossible:”
“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.”
This change only applies to iOS and iPadOS apps in the U.S. App Store and likely does not include the Canadian App Store. MobileSyrup has reached out to Apple for clarification.
Update 01/16/2024 8:01pm ET: Epic CEO Tim Sweeny has responded to Apple’s new App Store Guidelines, calling them “bad faith.”
Apple filed a bad-faith "compliance" plan for the District Court's injunction. It totally undermines the order allowing “buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to IAP”.https://t.co/ofbuMwe7SH
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2024
Via: 9to5Mac
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