Apple has added warnings discouraging users from downloading apps that use alternative payments on the EU App Store, it has emerged.
So now many are asking: is that what’s about to happen in the US, too?
As noted by both The Verge and Daring Fireball, app developer Viktor Maric’s X post shows a warning on the product page of Instacar, a Hungarian app which allows users to scan licence plates to check a used car before they buy.
The App Store listing also links through to an information page about alternative payment options in the EU, which appears to have been set up after the introduction of the Digital Markets Act. The DMA is an EU law designed to open up competition on digital storefronts, which forced Apple to allow developers to offer payments through other providers.
In order to offer those alternative payments, however, EU developers had to sign new App Store terms that are so egregious that very few developers adopted them.
Still, it seems Instacar is one of the few developers to have signed the new terms, so Apple appears to have added the warning to the app’s product page to further discourage users from downloading the app.
Apple is facing a tidal wave of developers offering payments outside of its own App Store infrastructure after a US judge forced the tech giant to lift all outside payment restrictions with immediate effect two weeks ago.
Spotify and Patreon have already pushed updates live that offer users web-based payments, which effectively dodge the 30% commission Apple takes on all in-app purchases made through the App Store.
Many game developers are expected to follow suit in the coming weeks, but to date, Apple has not added the warnings to the apps taking advantage of the new ruling, which only applies to the US App Store. It’s worth noting that the US ruling removes ‘scare screens’ from the payment flow in-app, but did not mention the App Store product page, leaving some leeway for Apple to add in these warnings for US customers.
