Apple Seeks 5–15% Cut on External App Payments

Apple has asked a US court for permission to charge developers commissions of between 5% and 15% when customers are directed from iPhone and iPad apps to pay outside the App Store.

The proposal, filed on Friday 14 August, is the latest move in Apple’s long-running legal dispute with Epic Games. It applies specifically to digital purchases in the United States made through external payment links or third-party payment services connected from an app.

Crucially, this is a proposal rather than a new App Store policy. The US District Court for the Northern District of California still needs to decide whether Apple can charge a commission on these transactions, and at what level. Neither court approval nor an implementation date has been confirmed.

Apple’s proposed external-payment rates

According to Engadget, Apple wants to charge a 15% commission for apps that would normally pay its standard 30% App Store rate. It has proposed a 10% rate for apps in its News Partner Program, Video Partner Program and Mini Apps Partner Program, as well as for subscription renewals.

The lowest proposed rate is 5%, for developers enrolled in Apple’s App Store Small Business Program. That programme is aimed at developers whose proceeds in the previous calendar year were up to $1 million. Qualifying developers generally pay Apple a 15% commission on purchases made through the App Store.

In practical terms, the proposed fees concern transactions that happen after an app sends a customer elsewhere to complete a purchase. Apple is asking the court to settle whether it is entitled to receive a share of that “linked-out” revenue, even though it does not process the payment through its own in-app billing system.

A lower proposal than Apple’s previous US link-out fees

The figures are notably below Apple’s earlier external-payment charges in the US. Following an injunction in the Epic case, Apple introduced rules allowing developers to include links to alternative payment options, but charged commissions of between 12% and 27% rather than its usual 15% to 30% App Store rates.

The Ninth Circuit later documented that Apple reached its 27% external-payment figure by taking the normal 30% commission and subtracting a three-percentage-point “cost of payments discount”. Developers also had to pay their own payment providers, meaning an external transaction could cost more than 30% overall.

Under Apple’s latest proposal, a developer on the standard 30% App Store rate would instead face a proposed 15% fee on an eligible linked-out purchase. That could be a substantial reduction from the former 27% arrangement, but it would not make an external payment route cost-free: developers would still need to cover their processor’s charges.

How Epic v Apple reached this stage

The dispute began in 2020, after Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store when Epic Games attempted to introduce its own payment option. Apple broadly prevailed in the wider case, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued an injunction directed at Apple’s anti-steering rules.

In 2021, the court ordered Apple to allow developers to include buttons, external links and other calls to action that direct users towards alternative purchasing mechanisms. After the US Supreme Court declined to hear Apple’s appeal, Apple’s link-out rules took effect in January 2024.

In April 2025, Judge Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in wilful violation of the injunction and ordered it to stop collecting commissions on external purchases. Apple subsequently stopped charging those fees while appealing. In December 2025, the Ninth Circuit upheld the finding that Apple had violated the injunction, but said a blanket ban on any commission went too far and returned the question of a reasonable charge to the lower court.

Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney wrote in April: “Apple’s delaying tactics have come to an end! Now Epic v Apple returns to Judge Gonzales Rogers for hearings on exactly what fees Apple can charge to recoup costs of reviewing apps using competing payment methods.”

What it means in the UK

There is no confirmed immediate change for UK customers. Apple’s court proposal is limited to external payment options in the United States, and it does not announce new UK prices, subscription terms, products or dates.

However, the UK is pursuing its own potential approach. On 30 June, the Competition and Markets Authority proposed requirements that would let UK developers steer users to external payment options on “fair and reasonable” terms. The CMA said steering fees should be lower than current App Store charges, with savings passed to customers or reinvested in developers.

That consultation closed on 28 July, and the CMA has said it will decide later in 2026 whether to impose the requirements. Until then, and until any resulting rules are implemented, the effect on UK iPhone and iPad users remains unconfirmed.

What happens next

The immediate question is for the California court: whether Apple can levy a commission on linked-out purchases at all, and whether the proposed 5%, 10% and 15% bands are reasonable. Until the court rules, these are suggested fees, not charges developers or customers should expect to see.