Apple Developer Weekly #228 App Store Required to Ease External Payment Links in the US
No practical impact for most developers, but advisable to prepare strategies in advance
From 13
I rested an extra day this weekend, so the newsletter is a day late.
This week's most important news is that the App Store must ease restrictions on external payment method links, allowing developers to bypass the 15-30% IAP commission.
But don't get too excited just yet. For developers to enjoy increased revenue, sufficient conditions are needed, and they must be prepared to experiment.
I'll cover this in several sections below.
13 on May 5, 2025
🧑⚖️Apple Found in Contempt of Court, Must Ease External Link Restrictions
The iOS app Review Guidelines have always had strict regulations requiring digital services used within apps to use IAP as the payment channel, prohibiting links that direct users to external payment methods.
In the Epic v. Apple case, on May 1, a US court ruled that Apple must remove this restriction. Of course, this applies only to the US market.
🇺🇸App Store Review Guidelines Updated for US Market
The court's requirements took immediate effect, and Apple modified and released the latest Review Guidelines on May 3. The restrictions in sections 3.1.1, 3.1.1(a), 3.1.3, and 3.1.3(a) have been excluded for the United States.
Developers should have received Apple's email. Here's a backup of the content:
The App Review Guidelines have been updated for compliance with a United States court decision regarding buttons, external links, and other calls to action in apps. These changes affect apps distributed on the United States storefront of the App Store, and are as follows:
3.1.1: Apps on the United States storefront are not prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action when allowing users to browse NFT collections owned by others.
3.1.1(a): On the United States storefront, there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, and no entitlement is required to do so.
3.1.3: The prohibition on encouraging users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase does not apply on the United States storefront.
3.1.3(a): The External Link Account entitlement is not required for apps on the United States storefront to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action.
In simple terms, this means:
Applies to the US App Store region
No longer prohibits including links, buttons, or other CTAs
Relaxes existing regulations on external links for Reader-type apps, no longer requiring an Entitlement application
🧐13's Perspective
What do the App Store rule changes mean for users, developers, and payment providers? This blog post by RevenueCat, a well-known subscription service provider, is worth reading for developers: Apple must allow External Payment Links: What Epic vs. Apple's ruling means for developers, PMs, and marketers.
I'll also share my thoughts here, analyzing only the current situation without discussing the rights and wrongs of Apple's rules.
This issue seems significant, but I believe it will only have a practical impact on a few readers (developers), at least for now:
First, this court ruling and Apple's rule changes are limited to the US market. Even if the EU or other governments follow suit in the future, that's a matter for later.
Second, IAP has already established long-term trust and habits among iOS users, and can adequately handle tax issues, recurring subscription charges, and refund disputes. When payment pages include "cheaper but unfamiliar" link options, will consumers accept them? Or will they fail to complete payment after being redirected? This requires very rigorous statistics and testing, as well as continuous improvement of the payment process to increase conversion rates. Otherwise, adding redirect links might reduce overall revenue, making it counterproductive.
Third, this will likely only impact larger services like Netflix, Spotify, Epic, etc. Small and medium-sized developers can apply for Apple's Small Business Program to "benefit" from a reduction in commission from 30% to 15%. Only after calculating conversion rates and overall revenue will you know whether additional payment methods are necessary. Of course, if your service already has external payment methods, it will be simpler.
In conclusion, the key is whether you have data and ongoing tracking methods. This is, after all, a matter of revenue.
💳RevenueCat Launches Web Payment Button
Many payment services and channels rushed to release alternatives for developers. For example, RevenueCat has already launched a Web Payment button in their SDK's paywall for developers to test. Superwall also launched similar features.
You can modify the paywall interface in the backend, design experiments, and calculate integrated results - that's the value of these types of services.
Developers can certainly create their own paywalls (such as Stripe providing documentation for setting up iOS payment links), but tracking the conversion rates of IAP versus external links, as well as changes in overall revenue, will be up to you.
💰Apple Reports Second Quarter Results
Coincidentally, the financial report was released on the same day as the court ruling. The news release subtitle even reads "Services revenue reaches new all-time high."
I'll just leave the link here; interested readers can research on their own.
🧪Apple Releases & News
🚧App Store Connect Maintenance Scheduled for May 10
Starting at 6:00 AM PDT on May 10, App Store Connect will be unavailable for up to two hours. Please complete all important releases or changes before this time.
Converted to Taipei time, that's 9:00 PM.
🔥Google deprecates its Gen AI Swift SDK, developers should switch to Firebase
Developers using the original SDK or Gemini API should refer to the Vertex AI in Firebase documentation.
📦A fast, lightweight replacement for SwiftData
Readers following Point-Free probably know they've been actively developing SharingGRDB recently. It uses Swift Macros and Swift Sharing syntax to wrap GRDB, allowing users to access SQLite databases with syntax similar to SwiftData.
The latest version includes and opens up Swift StructuredQueries package, used to build complex and type-safe SQL queries.
I haven't had time to watch recent Point-Free videos to understand the implementation details, but once again I deeply admire Brandon Williams and Stephen Celis for their skill in designing APIs and practically applying Swift language features.
📣Recruitment/Job Seeking/Freelance Section
The vocus App Team's try! Swift Tokyo sharing and recruitment post has released Part 2 this week. Those interested in the conference can check it out.
By the way, next year's try! Swift Tokyo has already announced its dates, and I'm organizing a group with some friends for next year.
If you have iOS development-related job openings or resumes you'd like to publish in the Developer Weekly, please see About.
↖️Last Issue Highlights
If you've been too busy to read last week's content, here are the highlights:
iPlayground is actively recruiting sponsors, please support the community
UIKit might phase out UIApplicationDelegate
That's all for this week's Apple Developer Weekly. Feel free to like❤️, comment💬, or reply✉️ to share your thoughts.
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