Most App Store Developers Don’t Accept Apple With Its New External Payment Option

It seems that Apple’s recently added option for App Store developers to include links to external payment methods isn’t exactly appealing. At a hearing Friday in the ongoing legal battle with Epic, Apple said only 38 developers had requested such links be added, out of about 65,000 who could do so, according to . The new guidelines require developers to get approval from Apple before they can add alternative payment options and state that they will still have to pay a commission of up to 27%.

The changes were intended to satisfy an injunction ordered by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in 2021, but, according to , Epic in March called Apple’s compliance attempt a “sham” and filed a complaint with the court. At this point, Rogers doesn’t seem all that impressed either. “It seems to me that the goal was to maintain the business model and the revenue that you had in the past,” Rogers said of Apple’s solution during the latest hearing, according to Bloomberg.

In addition to Apple’s commission, developers also have to factor in payment processing fees, which could lead to them paying even more than before. “You tell me a thousand people were involved [in approving the new fee] and none of them said maybe we should consider the cost [to developers]?” the judge would have said.