Apple Wants a Cut Even When You Pay Outside the App Store

Apple has asked a federal judge for permission to collect a fee of up to 15 percent when app developers let customers pay through outside payment systems instead of Apple's own App Store billing. The proposal was filed with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is overseeing Apple's long-running legal battle with Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite. Engadget

Here is how the proposed fees would work. Apps that currently pay Apple a 30 percent cut for purchases made through the App Store would pay 15 percent when customers pay outside the App Store. Apps in certain partner programs, and subscription renewals, would pay 10 percent. Apps in Apple's Small Business Program would pay 5 percent. Apple says the "vast majority" of developers qualify for the Small Business Program, which has charged a 15 percent commission on App Store purchases since 2020. Engadget MacRumors

The case has been going on for five years. In 2021, the judge ordered Apple to let developers link to outside payment options so they would not have to pay Apple's 30 percent commission. Apple kept collecting a 12 to 27 percent fee on those outside payments anyway, and Epic accused Apple of ignoring the court order. Last year, the judge found Apple in contempt of court and told it to stop collecting fees from external payments. An appeals court upheld the contempt ruling but overturned the ban on Apple collecting fees, sending the question of what Apple can charge back to the lower court. Engadget Reuters

The April 2025 contempt ruling also said Apple must not impose any new commission. Apple's current proposal essentially asks the judge to replace that blanket ban with a specific fee schedule. Reuters

The case is now heading to the U.S. Supreme Court under the name Apple Inc. v. Epic Games, Inc., docket number 25-1311. Oyez

Apple has long said that most developers pay nothing. The company says about 86 percent of developers never pay Apple a commission, and that as of March 2024 there were only two situations in which a developer pays Apple. Apple Newsroom Separately, Apple announced an App Store update in 2021 that closed an investigation by Japan's antitrust regulator. Apple Newsroom

Google's own dispute with Epic offers a helpful comparison. On June 30, Google opened the Play Store to outside billing and lowered its commission to a flat 10 percent no matter which payment system a customer uses. In July, Google started allowing third-party app stores on Android phones. After Epic complained that Google made it too hard to install rival app stores, a judge ordered Google to remove the "anticompetitive friction" from the process. Google also proposed, in a settlement with Epic, a capped fee of either 9 percent or 20 percent on transactions in apps distributed through the Play Store that use alternative payment systems. Engadget Reuters

The difference between the two companies is simple. Google committed to one flat 10 percent commission on outside payments. Apple is proposing a tiered structure that ranges from 15 percent for its largest developers down to 5 percent for small businesses. Whether the judge accepts Apple's proposed rates, sets different ones, or places conditions on how outside links work is still before Judge Gonzalez Rogers.

The key point is that Apple is not proposing to give up its claim to a share of purchases that happen entirely outside its own payment system. Apple's argument is that its platform, its app discovery tools, and its software development tools create value that entitles the company to ongoing compensation even when a customer pays on someone else's website. The judge rejected that reasoning once already when she found Apple in contempt for continuing to collect such fees. But the appeals court's decision to overturn the fee ban left the door open for Apple to propose a structured alternative, which is what this filing does.

For developers, the practical impact is straightforward. A developer currently paying Apple 30 percent for App Store billing would pay 15 percent for outside purchases under the proposal. That is a meaningful reduction, but it is not the zero-fee outcome Epic originally wanted. A small business developer paying 15 percent through the App Store would pay 5 percent for outside purchases. The numbers favor outside payments at every level, but the real savings depend on the cost of running a separate payment system, dealing with fraud, handling chargebacks, and managing tax compliance without Apple's help.

The Supreme Court's eventual involvement, under docket 25-1311, could decide whether companies that run app platforms have a legal right to collect these commissions at all, or whether the lower court's ongoing supervision of the case stays in control.