If you own an iPhone or iPad in the EU, October 1st is worth marking on your calendar. After roughly two years of fighting the European Commission over the Digital Markets Act, Apple has finally struck a deal — and starting that date, the App Store in Europe will operate under a genuinely new set of rules.
This isn’t a minor tweak to keep regulators quiet. Apple is restructuring how apps are sold, how you pay for things inside them, and even adding new protections specifically for kids. Here’s what it means in practice, without the legal jargon.
More ways to pay, all in one app
Until now, if you bought something inside an app — a subscription, extra storage, in-game currency — developers in the EU had to pick one payment method and stick with it. Either Apple’s own payment system, or a third-party one. Never both at the same time.
That restriction is gone. From October, a single app can offer you Apple’s payment system, a developer’s own payment system, and a link out to a website checkout — all in the same purchase flow. In theory, that means more competition between payment options, which could translate into better prices or fewer awkward “go to our website to subscribe” workarounds that developers currently use to dodge Apple’s cut.
One catch worth knowing: developers have to keep whatever payment options they choose in place for at least 12 months, so you shouldn’t see the checkout screen changing every few weeks.
Cheaper apps? Maybe — eventually
This is the part that matters most for your wallet, even if it’s indirect. Apple has torn up its old EU fee structure — including the widely disliked Core Technology Fee, a per-install charge that applied once an app crossed a million downloads a year. That’s been scrapped entirely.
In its place, Apple now charges developers a flat 5% Core Technology Commission on digital transactions for apps distributed outside the App Store, plus a tiered set of commissions depending on how a developer chooses to handle payments — ranging from around 26% down to as low as 5% for apps sold through independent marketplaces.
None of this changes prices overnight. But lower, simpler fees for developers historically put downward pressure on subscription and in-app purchase prices over time, especially for smaller apps that previously struggled to absorb Apple’s cut. Whether that plays out here is something to watch over the coming months rather than expect immediately on October 1st.
Apps from outside the App Store, without the old restrictions
Alternative app marketplaces and direct downloads from developer websites have technically been allowed in the EU for a while, but the rules around who could offer them were tight. Apple has now loosened eligibility, so more established developers — publicly listed companies, venture-backed startups, non-profits, government bodies, and businesses that pass a financial stability check — can launch their own marketplace or distribute apps directly.
For you as a user, this mostly means more choice in where an app can come from. Importantly, Apple says every app distributed this way — App Store or not — will still go through a basic safety check called notarization, checking that it works as advertised and doesn’t contain obvious malware. So “outside the App Store” doesn’t mean “unchecked.”
A real parental control layer for kids’ purchases
This is arguably the most consumer-facing change in the whole update, and it applies whether or not you’re a parent yourself — it affects how kids’ apps work across the board.
- Apps in the “Kids” category will no longer be allowed to link out to external payment websites at all, closing off a common scam vector aimed at children.
- If a user under 18 is offered a third-party payment option or an external payment link, they’ll now hit a “parental gate” — a step that requires a parent or guardian to approve before the purchase can go through.
- For children under 13, external payment links are blocked entirely, no exceptions.
In EU countries with stricter national rules requiring parental consent even for older teenagers, those tighter local laws will still apply on top of Apple’s baseline.
One rulebook instead of two
Previously, developers operating in the EU had to juggle two separate sets of App Store terms — the traditional ones and a separate DMA-compliant set. That split is being merged into a single, unified set of terms covering the App Store, alternative marketplaces, and in-app purchases alike. It’s a behind-the-scenes change, but it should mean fewer inconsistencies in how different apps behave depending on which rules a developer happened to opt into.
Why now?
Apple spent years arguing that the Commission’s demands would weaken iPhone and iPad security more than they’d help consumers. That argument didn’t win. According to reporting from CNBC, Apple was facing a potential fine of up to €500 million for DMA non-compliance, and that financial pressure appears to be what finally pushed the two sides to a deal in July, with the details formally announced on August 18th.
The European Commission hasn’t issued its own public statement on the agreement yet, so everything currently known comes from Apple’s side — though the specifics line up with updated developer documentation, which suggests this isn’t just a PR framing exercise.
The bottom line for EU users
Starting October 1st, you’ll likely notice more payment options inside apps, a safer purchase flow if you have kids using your devices, and — over time — a chance that increased competition among payment providers nudges prices down. Nothing about how you download or use the App Store itself changes dramatically overnight, but the foundation underneath it just shifted in a way that’s meant to give both developers and consumers more flexibility than Apple has allowed in over a decade.
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