Long live OAPs: Apple’s grip on out of App Store payments ‘broken’

There’s in-app payments, the old familiar IAPs, and out-of-app payments, the relatively new OAPs. With a legal ruling that broke yesterday, Apple’s iron-clad grip on out-of-app payments has, in long-time industry analyst Eric Seufert’s words, been “broken.”

And as of May 2, Apple has updated the App Review Guidelines:

 

Apple’s response to a 2024 injunction that forced the company to open up external payments included a massive 27% commission on “proceeds you earn from sales (“transactions“) to the user for digital goods or services on your website after a link out.” (This is, in some ways, similar to the company’s Core Technology Fee it unveiled in the EU in response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which the EU found non-compliant and recently fined Apple 500 million euros over.)

But Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the US district court for Northern California just ruled that Apple’s response to the injunction “was the most anticompetitive option” that created “new anticompetitive barriers.” 

Now she’s ordered Apple to drop any commissions or fees on out-of-app payments.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who has fought this battle for almost 4 and half years, says it’s “game over for the Apple Tax.”

NO FEES on web transactions. Game over for the Apple Tax.

Apple’s 15-30% junk fees are now just as dead here in the United States of America as they are in Europe under the Digital Markets Act. Unlawful here, unlawful there.

4 years 4 months 17 days. https://t.co/RucrsX7Z4A pic.twitter.com/3kSYnt5pcI

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 30, 2025

What does this mean?

Instantly, apps can link out to their own webstore anywhere on the internet and take commission-less payments outside the App Store. An Apple spokesman said the company will comply with the court’s order, CNBC reports, and Stripe almost instantly added documentation on how to accept payments for digital goods on iOS via Stripe Checkout in a browser. 

 

OAPs: relatively seamless integration

Note those last 2 items on Stripe’s product announcement under “What you’ll build” … things that will seamlessly tie your out-of-app e-commerce capability back into your app right to where your users/players/customers want to be, and functionality to update in-app currency balances.

Theoretically, that’s all pretty seamless.

You’ll very likely be able to use Apple Pay as well, which would make transactions almost as seamless as if you were still using the built-in App Store payment method.

But, as I said in a related post on the multiverse of marketing in a post-App Store world, OAPs won’t happen instantly or even easily. The reason: the current App Store model is pretty bloody good for consumers.

The current system is simple. It’s trusted. It’s safe: one place to get apps, no thinking, no pre-installing of a new store, no wondering if you trust a new app store with your credit card, and all payments coming from one brand.

But it will happen, over time, and especially with known app publisher brand names. That doesn’t mean you have to be Nike or Rovio; apps that your users or players have used for a long time will build trust, even if you don’t have a global brand.

Scare screens: fixing 1 of the biggest problems for out-of-app payments (OAPs)

Epic Games won just 1 small part of its lawsuit against Apple way back in 2024 when U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple must allow developers to provide third-party payment options in apps.

But there were still major problems that I highlighted at the time: the massive commission Apple still wanted to charge app publishers even when they went through all the hassle and pain of setting up their own app payments systems.

Another was the big Apple scare screen:

That scare screen is now going to have to go away. Judge Roger’s ruling includes the stipulation that Apple cannot interfere with people leaving an app and can only offer a neutral message that they are going to a third-party site.

In addition, Apple cannot, according to the court order, restrict how app developers style or format or place links to OAPs inside their apps.

There’s still a challenge, of course

IAPs are easy. Apple has your credit card. You trust Apple to not steal from you, and you know that there’s a relatively simple way to get your money back if you feel you didn’t get the value you were promised.

OAPs are always going to be a bit harder. You’ll have to enter your payment information (unless you use Apple Pay, which Stripe supports). That means grabbing your wallet from somewhere, pulling out a card, and entering a long string of numbers, plus maybe 2FA’ing with your credit card company that yes, this is an actual legit transaction that you want to proceed with.

That said, it’s still a game-changer.

Web2app spend is way up recently, and that’s because web2app gives you more data and can reduce your cost of customer acquisition. 

And that means smaller apps have been joining bigger apps in moving payments off App Store and boosting real recognized revenue around 30%.

I chatted with Twitch founder Justin Kan and Stash product manager Archie Stonehill about it recently on the Growth Masterminds podcast:

There are still some costs, obviously, as I noted here: your payment processor, perhaps some dropoff for those who don’t want to take the extra payment steps, and those who fail to properly enter their card information.

But you’ll still make more money, for 4 reasons that I outlined in that blog post:

1. You’ll pay 5% for the credit card transaction, not 30%
2. People spend more when they get discounts
3. You’ll develop a more loyal multi-platform customer who is actually your customer, not Apple’s or Google’s
4. You’ll have multiple means of communicating with your customers off-platform (email, SMS) as well as on-platform (in-app messages, push notifications, etc.)

It’s been a long journey, and it’s not over

I’ve been writing about Epic Games and its struggle with taking IAPs and making them OAPs for over 4 years. The first Epic vs Apple  ruling was in 2021, after all. 

But it’s not over yet.

While Apple did say it would comply with the court’s orders, Apple also says ““We strongly disagree with the decision … and we will appeal.”

In other words, the legal hell might not be over.

There’s reasons to think Apple might actually not appeal. After all, this was a devastating judgement. Long-time Apple analyst John Gruber calls it “excoriating,” saying he’s read few legal decisions quite like it. The judge literally called out Apple vice president of finance Alex Roman for lying on the stand. In Rogers’ words, Roman’s testimony was “replete with misdirection and outright lies.” 

She is literally referring the situation to a US attorney for possible criminal contempt charges. I would not like to be in Roman’s shoes right now.

Also, Apple has to comply basically instantly, and has already agreed to.

That means people will have the option quite soon to buy OAPs. Will Apple be comfortable with taking that away from customers if it eventually wins in some long-in-the-future appeal?

Plus … in the EU, the Core Technology Fee has not passed the Digital Markets Act smell test, resulting in the recent massive fine. Surely Apple can read the tea leaves and see that laws and regulations in multiple major geos are aligning against its ability to control how iOS apps monetize.

Time will tell.

In the meantime, out-of-app payments will soon be free.

At least for a while.