Apple said it is changing fees for developers in the European Union, including those who don't use its own App Store, in a bid to appease antitrust officials and help it avoid further penalties.

EU officials last year handed the tech company a fine of 500 million euros, equivalent to about $566.5 million, saying the company breached the Digital Markets Act, the EU's digital competition rulebook.

Under the DMA, Apple has to allow alternatives to its own App Store and let developers tell their own customers about deals outside of its marketplace free of charge. Companies can be fined up to 10% of annual global revenue if officials find them in breach of the rules.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, linked the fine to Apple's obligation to allow apps to steer users, telling the company it had to remove technical and commercial restrictions on steering.

Under the new terms, Apple is charging a 26% commission on in-app purchases from Oct. 1, down from an original 30% standard fee in place before it had to comply with the DMA. It is also charging a 15% commission on linked-out purchases and 20% for alternative payment processing, with lower rates for smaller developers.

The overall tweaks seek to address another 2024 investigation into whether Apple's terms comply with the DMA after months of talks with officials.

A spokesperson for the commission said the changes would benefit developers and that the bloc would monitor their implementation and impact "to ensure full and effective steering for developers."

The Coalition for App Fairness, which counts tech companies Spotify Technology and Epic Games among its members, joined 17 other groups in writing an open letter to the commission in September. "The terms have changed, but the economic effect has not," it said, adding that fees remain "highly excessive." The European Publishers Council--a trade group that The Wall Street Journal parent Newscorp is part of--has also signed the letter.

Sebastien Pant, senior officer of competition and digital enforcement from European consumer group BEUC, said he has doubts about the changes if some are coming forward with criticism. "If those fees are still considered by the app developer and game developer to be prohibitively high, then I wonder what has actually changed," he said.

He added that requirements as part of Apple's user install flow--the step-by-step journey a user makes to install software outside of Apple's own services--could lead to people not following through when attempting to install an alternative app marketplace.

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment, but said in August that the changes resolved its disagreements with the commission and reduced complexity for developers. Kyle Andeer, Apple's vice president of products and regulatory law, also told a June 2025 workshop with commission officials and third parties that the DMA doesn't mandate that businesses give away their services to others for free.

The company initially offered separate sets of business terms to comply with the DMA in 2024, charging a so-called core technology fee, or CTF, of 0.50 euro per first annual install for those who set up shop in alternative app stores if their app became hugely popular, a move that was criticized by many in the industry as punitive.

Oleksandr Kosovan, the founder of Kyiv-based software company Macpaw, said his team faced difficulties when they tried to launch a mobile version of Setapp, an app store where users pay a monthly subscription to access a library of productivity apps.

He cited Apple's CTF, complex terms and its "super complicated install flow" as hurdles. "All this hassle, this kills any user intention to try something new," he said. The company closed its Setapp mobile app store in February.

Under the new terms, Apple is replacing its CTF with a 5% commission for apps that are distributed via alternative app marketplaces or through a website. It also made it easier for developers to set up their own app stores.

The changes are welcome news for AltStore, which offers apps that can do things like change an iPhone's lock screen sound. "It's what we've been waiting for so long," Riley Testut, one of AltStore's founders, said. Now, the founders say they are looking to bring new apps into their iPhone marketplace.

Macpaw's Kosovan said his company had paused further mobile Setapp activities until "we see really positive changes," and is switching to other projects.

BEUC's Pant said that it would now be easier to test how Apple's new systems work in practice. "It is definitely an improvement compared to what was there previously, I don't think there's any doubt about that," he said. "But is it something that's really moved the dial? I have my doubts."

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