Under mounting regulatory pressure from the European Union, Apple has unveiled a new fee structure.

Apple announced on June 26 that changes to App Store policies, mandated by the EU's Digital Markets Act, would take effect immediately. The overall commission rates have been trimmed, and external payment options are now permitted. After the Digital Markets Act was amended in 2022, the European Commission kept the pressure on, and Apple has officially stated that these policy shifts are a direct result of the European Commission's demands.

The core changes focus on significant fee cuts and the introduction of third-party payment links. The new commission structure is split into two tiers. The first tier covers essential features like app distribution, security, and maintenance at a reduced rate. The second tier, which is optional, provides additional services such as curation, personalization, auto-updates, download management, and user-driven ratings and reviews.

The previous commission, which hovered around the 30% mark, has been slashed. For the first tier, the store service fee sits at 5%. In the second tier, the store service fee is 13%, though participants in the App Store Small Business Program—typically smaller developers—and those who have been on the platform for over a year see this reduced to 10%.

Furthermore, external payments and links are now allowed. If a developer finds a cheaper payment method elsewhere, they are free to point users toward it, but in this case, they must pay a 5% Core Technology Fee (CTC) and a 2% initial acquisition fee on top of the base store commission. Note that if you decide to stick with the in-app purchase system, you are prohibited from promoting external payment options.

While these measures are currently limited to EU member states, it seems likely that they will eventually ripple out to South Korea. Since May, the Act Prohibiting Retaliatory Business Practices by App Market Operators has been under discussion, and calls to allow external payments while lowering in-app purchase commissions have been consistent. The Democratic Party of Korea previously pledged in its presidential campaign materials to "enhance global equity in app markets by supplementing legislation that prohibits forced in-app payments."