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Apple Wants to Charge Developers Up to 15 Percent for Linking Outside the App Store
Apple today submitted a court-ordered proposal outlining the commission it believes is reasonable to collect from U.S. apps that link to purchase options outside of the App Store.
Apple is asking for half of its commission on standard apps, so apps that would pay 30 percent for an in-app purchase would pay 15 percent when linking to a web purchase option. Small Business Program participants that would normally pay 15 percent would pay 5 percent.
* 15 percent - Standard apps.
* 10 percent - Apps that are part of the News Partner Program, Video Partner Program, Mini Apps Partner Program, and subscription renewals.
* 5 percent - Apps that qualify for the Small Business Program. Apps qualify if they earn under $1 million per year.
These proposed fees are what developers would pay when someone uses their app, taps a link in the app, and then makes a purchase on the website in the link. So if someone using the Spotify app clicked a link in the app to go to the Spotify website and then purchased a subscription, Spotify would owe Apple a 15 percent fee. Apple says the fees were calculated based on expert analysis, and they are lower than the link-out rates Google is charging in the Epic v. Google case.
Apple submitted the proposal to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has been tasked with determining a reasonable fee for Apple to charge for its intellectual property.
The appeals court suggested the commission could be limited to the direct costs of facilitating link-outs, and under that approach, the fee would be zero. Apple says a zero commission would not reflect the value that it provides developers, and its suggested commission gives it fair compensation for the App Store platform.
As a recap, Apple was ordered to change its App Store rules to allow developers to link to purchase options outside of the App Store way back in 2021 during its legal dispute with Epic Games. Appeals delayed the App Store update for several years, but Apple eventually implemented a 12 to 27 percent fee that was nearly identical to its regular App Store fees when taking into account fees from third-party payment processors.
Epic Games complained about Apple's fee structure, and Judge Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in contempt of court. In April 2025, she barred Apple from charging any fee on links, and since then, Apple has collected no money when an app sends users to a website to make a purchase. Apple appealed the ruling, and the appeals court upheld the contempt ruling, but said Apple was entitled to be compensated for its intellectual property. The appeals court sent the case back to the district court and Gonzalez Rogers to determine an appropriate fee.
With a loss on the contempt finding from the appeals court, Apple appealed to the Supreme Court. The justices agreed to hear the case in the term that starts in October. Apple tried several times to get the fee calculation paused until the Supreme Court rules on the case, but it was not successful.
The district court will now evaluate Apple's fee proposal and hear a response from Epic Games, and Apple will need to implement the fee the court sets. Apple wanted to pause fee calculations because if the Supreme Court decides the appeals court erred when upholding the contempt ruling, it could nullify the district court's ruling barring Apple from charging fees.Tag: App Store
This article, "Apple Wants to Charge Developers Up to 15 Percent for Linking Outside the App Store" first appeared on MacRumors.com
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