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Apple's new EU rules: should your app take payments itself?

By Zdeněk Dolák, Founder7 min read

Since 1 October 2026, iPhone apps in the EU may take payments outside Apple's In-App Purchase. What Apple still charges, the work it adds and who it suits.

Since 1 October 2026, an iPhone app on Apple's EU storefronts may sell digital goods and services through its own checkout or a link to the web, next to Apple's In-App Purchase. Apple still takes a commission on every path: 26% through In-App Purchase, 20% through your own checkout in the app and 15% through a link to an offer on your website.

The switch pays off mainly for apps that sell digital subscriptions at volume and can run their own billing. Most fintech, healthcare, energy and logistics apps aren't affected at all, because they don't sell digital goods through the App Store in the first place.

This article covers App Store apps on EU storefronts, Czechia included. Apps distributed outside the App Store have their own terms, mentioned briefly below. Apple's pages are linked at the end.

What changed on 1 October

Apple announced the changes on 18 August 2026, and they took effect on 1 October:

  • One set of terms for everyone. Every developer distributing apps in the EU is now on the same business terms, Attachment 14 of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement. The earlier EU addenda are gone.
  • Payment choice next to In-App Purchase. An app may offer its own payment processing inside the app, a link to an offer outside it, or both, alongside Apple's In-App Purchase.
  • A commission instead of a per-install fee. The Core Technology Fee, charged per install once an app passed a threshold, is replaced by a 5% Core Technology Commission. That 5% applies to apps distributed outside the App Store, through an alternative marketplace or from the web, not to App Store apps. The Initial Acquisition Fee and the Store Services Fee are gone too.
  • Protections for children. Alternative payments now come with parental gates, described below.

What Apple takes on each path

How the customer paysStandard commissionReduced commissionWho handles payment, VAT and refunds
Apple In-App Purchase26%15%Apple
Your own checkout inside the app20%10%You and your payment provider
A link to an offer on your website, on sales within 7 days of the tap15%10%You and your payment provider

The reduced rate applies to members of the App Store Small Business Program, and to auto-renewable subscriptions after the subscriber's first year. The Small Business Program is open to developers who earned no more than USD 1 million in proceeds in the previous calendar year and the current one, counted together with any associated developer accounts, and to developers new to the App Store. Two smaller Apple programmes for mini apps and video also get the reduced rate.

An illustration on Apple's published standard rates: of €100 in sales, Apple keeps €26 through In-App Purchase, €20 through your own checkout and €15 through a link to the web. On the last two paths your payment provider charges its own fee on top, so the real difference is smaller than the headline rates suggest. For a Small Business Program member the gap is 15% against 10%.

What your own checkout adds

The commission is only part of the cost. Taking payments yourself moves work from Apple to you:

  • Billing becomes yours. You choose a payment provider and collect and remit VAT on those sales. Apple says it won't be able to help customers with refunds, purchase history or subscription management for purchases made this way; your support team handles them.
  • A system disclosure sheet. Before your checkout opens, or before a link takes the user to your offer, the app shows Apple's notice that the user is now dealing with you, not Apple. The user can turn off the reminder for later purchases.
  • In-App Purchase at least as prominent. If you offer In-App Purchase alongside, it must be shown at least as prominently as any other option. Apple names layout, language, font, colour and size as factors. The In-App Purchase button uses Apple's artwork on black or white. Your button may use your brand colour, but colour must not make it look like the preferred choice.
  • Different prices are allowed, advertising them on the store isn't. You may offer a different price or benefit for each option. Your App Store product page may not mention the alternative.
  • Parental gates. For users under 13, your own checkout sits behind a parental gate and links to web offers aren't allowed. For users aged 13 to 17, both sit behind a parental gate. Where an EU country sets a higher age of parental consent, such as 16, the thresholds move up with it. Apps in the Kids category may not link to a web purchase at all.
  • A monthly report to Apple. Every month, within 15 days after it ends, you report all alternative transactions to Apple: purchases, renewals, refunds, corrections and even started purchases that didn't complete. For iOS 26.4 and later this goes from your server through Apple's External Purchase Server API; older versions use a report template.
  • An entitlement and a minimum iOS version. The app needs Apple's StoreKit entitlement for external purchases and offers, listing the EU countries where it applies. Apple lists iOS and iPadOS 26.2 as the minimum versions.
  • A 12-month commitment. Once you choose a combination of payment options, you must keep it across all EU storefronts for 12 months.

You can also drop In-App Purchase altogether. Then, in Apple's words, users must have "a genuine opportunity to choose alternative payment processing within the app", on the same screen as any link to the web.

Decide who owns billing before the app work starts. The purchase records and the monthly report run on a server: your own backend, or a billing provider that reports to Apple for you. The app side, meaning the payment screen, the disclosure sheet and the parental gates, is a smaller part of the job.

When it pays off

  • Digital subscriptions at volume. The difference of 6 to 11 percentage points matters when subscription revenue is large enough to cover the provider's fees and the fixed work above.
  • You already sell on the web. If customers can already subscribe on your website, with accounts, billing and VAT in place, a link to that checkout is the smallest step.
  • You want control over prices and offers. A different price or benefit for buying directly, and promotions or win-back offers you run yourself.

When it doesn't

  • Small Business Program members. The gap is 5 percentage points, and the payment provider takes part of it.
  • Small volumes. The disclosure sheet, parental gates, monthly report and support load cost the same whether you sell a little or a lot.
  • Apps used mainly by children. Most purchases would go behind a parental gate, and Kids category apps can't link to the web.
  • Nobody to run billing. Refunds, VAT and the monthly report need an owner every month, not just at launch.

Most fintech and B2B apps aren't affected

Apple's commission applies to digital goods and services: subscriptions, premium features, paid content. Under App Review Guideline 3.1.3(e), an app that sells physical goods or services consumed outside the app must collect those payments some other way than In-App Purchase, for example with Apple Pay or a card.

Payments, loans, investing, insurance, energy contracts and deliveries are used outside the app, so they don't go through In-App Purchase and Apple takes no commission on them. That was true before 1 October and still is. Two other exceptions matter for our sectors:

  • Person-to-person services. Under 3.1.3(d), real-time services between two people, Apple's examples include medical consultations, may use payment methods other than In-App Purchase.
  • Apps sold to organisations. Under 3.1.3(c), an app sold directly to organisations for their employees may let those users access content or subscriptions the organisation has already bought.

The new terms matter where the app itself sells something digital. Examples are a premium tier of a budgeting app, paid analytics in an investing app or a paid content library. Where a paid plan mixes a financial service with digital features, check how Apple classifies it before you choose a payment path.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice.

What to do now

  1. List what your app sells. Separate digital goods from services consumed outside the app, and check which guideline each falls under.
  2. Work out the commission at your rate. Standard or reduced, first-year or renewing subscribers, plus your payment provider's fee.
  3. Name the owner of billing. VAT, refunds, subscription management, customer support and the monthly report to Apple. The services an app depends on should be in your company's name, as we describe in who owns your app.
  4. Choose a combination you can keep for 12 months. Then design the payment screen with In-App Purchase prominence, the disclosure sheet and the parental gates in mind.
  5. Check Apple's pages again before building. These terms replaced earlier EU terms, and the details can change.

If you would like a second opinion on which payment path suits a specific app, the mobile app development page describes how we work, and a short summary through the contact page is enough to start.

Sources

All sources were checked on 7 October 2026.