Apple sets 5% commission for third-party EU app stores

The introduction of a 5% commission for external distribution represents a significant concession to the European Commission, potentially lowering the barrier for streaming services to bypass the standard 30% 'Apple tax.' By offering tiered rates for web-based payments and third-party stores, Apple is attempting to maintain a revenue stream from its intellectual property while technically complying with the Digital Markets Act. This shift could encourage major streaming platforms to migrate billing away from native IAP to capture higher margins. Watch for whether the European Commission accepts this 5% 'Core Technology Commission' as a fair implementation of gatekeeper requirements or if further regulatory fines follow.

Apple's new 5% Core Technology Commission arrives after a prolonged regulatory standoff with the European Commission over gatekeeper obligations under the Digital Markets Act. In April 2025, the Commission closed its investigation into Apple's user choice obligations but issued preliminary findings that Apple's contract terms for alternative app distribution breached the DMA, specifically citing the Core Technology Fee and overly strict eligibility requirements that disincentivized developers from using alternative distribution channels. That April action built on an earlier June 2024 move in which the Commission sent preliminary findings to Apple and opened an additional non-compliance investigation over the Core Technology Fee and multi-step user journey for alternative app stores, marking the first formal enforcement step against Apple under the DMA.

The regulatory pressure has already forced Apple to revise its fee structure once before. In August 2024, Apple changed its EU policy to allow developers to communicate with customers outside the App Store, introducing a 5% acquisition fee for new users and a 10% store services fee on sales within 12 months of installation. That revision came after Reuters reported in June 2024 that the EU executive charged Apple with breaching tech rules and opened a probe into whether its contractual requirements for third-party developers were necessary and proportionate, with criticism from Epic Games and others over the original Core Technology Fee structure. The pattern of iterative concessions suggests the Commission views each new proposal as a starting point for negotiation rather than a final settlement.

The Commission's formal decision document details the specific fee architecture Apple had previously imposed. According to the European Commission's published DMA decision on Apple's App Store compliance, Apple's New Business Terms included three independent fees that could apply cumulatively: a commission of 17% on in-app purchases (or 10% for small business participants and subscriptions after one year), a 3% payment processing fee for apps using Apple's in-app purchase system, and a Core Technology Fee of €0.50 per annual install exceeding one million first annual installs. The decision also documented Apple's restrictive link-out conditions, including requirements that developers could only direct users to their own website with a single link per storefront and that a warning prompt must appear each time a user clicked through. The shift to a flat 5% commission for third-party stores represents a substantial simplification of that multi-layered structure, though whether the Commission will deem it sufficient remains the central open question. Recent Apple EU App Store fees reflect this ongoing evolution.