October 2026 Summaries

Apple’s revised EU App Store terms reduce standard In-App Purchase commissions from 30% to 26% and permit developers to offer third-party in-app payments or link users to web checkout while retaining Apple’s payment option. Apple charges 20% for alternative in-app payments and 15% for linked web purchases at standard rates, plus providers’ processing fees, while qualifying reduced-rate transactions generally face 15% for IAP and 10% for alternatives. Although web checkout can create larger nominal savings, developers must weigh provider costs, potential conversion losses, a 12-month commitment to their chosen terms, IAP prominence requirements, and age-related restrictions. Alternative payments may also provide greater control over pricing, promotions, checkout design, billing recovery, and lifecycle marketing, but require added work for tax, refunds, customer support, reporting, and subscription operations. Separately, Apple is replacing the Core Technology Fee for alternatively distributed apps with a 5% commission on digital transactions, and RevenueCat offers tools to support external-purchase reporting, unified entitlements, fee analysis, and experiments comparing payment routes.

Apple’s revised EU App Store terms, effective October 1, 2026, replace its previous combination of acquisition, store-services, and per-install fees with a single commission ranging from 5% for alternative marketplace or web distribution to 10–20% for developers using their own in-app checkout or web link-outs, while standard Apple in-app purchases remain 15–26%; qualifying small businesses and long-running subscriptions receive reduced rates. Developers may offer external checkout alongside Apple’s in-app purchase option, subject to design rules, eligibility checks, Apple disclosure screens, StoreKit tokens, App Review, and detailed transaction reporting that covers completed purchases, renewals, refunds, cancellations, changes, and unused tokens within specified deadlines. RevenueCat says it will automate much of this compliance for transactions processed through Stripe Billing, Paddle Billing, or Web Billing by managing token reporting, normalizing tax and refund data, providing App Review-compliant paywall buttons, calculating Apple’s commission alongside processor fees, and enabling an in-app checkout sheet or browser-based flow. External payment options are limited to eligible adult users on EU storefronts, and developers must request Apple’s entitlement, update their RevenueCat SDK, configure external purchase links and checkout providers, and target the alternative-payment paywall to appropriate users.