Apple Was Finally Cut Out of Purchases Made Outside the App Store, but Now It Wants Up to 15% of That Money Back

Apple wants to charge developers up to 15 percent when users leave an iPhone app through a link and make a purchase on the developer’s website, according to a proposal submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

Apple’s proposed rates vary by developer. Apps currently paying the standard 30 percent App Store commission would pay 15 percent on purchases generated through in-app links.

Developers in Apple’s News Partner, Video Partner and Mini Apps Partner programs, along with subscription renewals, would pay 10 percent. Developers in the Small Business Program would pay 5 percent.

Apple says the rates are based on expert analysis and are below the link-out fees Google is seeking in the separate Epic v. Google case.

Under Apple’s proposal, a Spotify user who taps a link in the iPhone app, visits Spotify’s website and buys a subscription there would generate a 15 percent payment to Apple, even though the transaction takes place outside the App Store.

Also: Microsoft is finally letting Apple users skip one of the most irritating parts of setting up Edge on a Mac or windows pc

Apple wants its link-out fee back

The proposal is the latest step in Apple’s long-running fight with Epic Games over payments outside the App Store.

In 2021, Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to allow developers to direct users to outside payment options. After years of appeals, Apple implemented the requirement but imposed fees ranging from 12 to 27 percent on the resulting purchases.

Epic challenged those fees, and Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in contempt in April 2025. She barred Apple from charging any fee on link-out transactions, leaving Apple without revenue from those purchases since then.

Apple appealed. The appeals court upheld the contempt finding but ruled that Apple could receive compensation for its intellectual property and sent the case back to Gonzalez Rogers to determine an appropriate fee.

The appeals court said the fee could be zero if limited to Apple’s direct costs of facilitating external links. Apple disagrees, arguing that a zero fee would not reflect the value its platform provides to developers.

Also: Apple just hired a republican with deep Washington ties, and the timing suggests it knows the next few years could get messy

The Supreme Court could change everything

Apple has also asked the Supreme Court to overturn the contempt ruling. The justices agreed to hear the case in the term beginning this October.

Apple sought to pause the district court’s fee-setting process while the appeal was pending, arguing that a Supreme Court victory could render any new fee irrelevant. The requests were rejected, leaving Gonzalez Rogers to set a rate now.

The court will consider Apple’s proposed rates and Epic’s response before deciding what developers can be charged for link-out purchases.

The Supreme Court could ultimately overturn the underlying contempt ruling, in which case the district court’s new fee could become irrelevant. Until then, Apple is trying to put a price on something it was previously prohibited from charging for at all.