Apple asks court to approve new 5% to 15% fees outside the App Store

Apple is asking a U.S. court to let it charge 5% to 15% on purchases made through external payment links in iPhone apps. The request, laid out in Apple’s latest filing on the U.S. court docket, reopens the Epic Games fight over what Apple can collect when a purchase happens outside its own checkout.

In that filing, Apple proposes 15% fee for standard apps, 5% for developers in the Small Business Program, and 10% in certain subscription and partner situations. Apple’s position is that developers still get plenty of value from the iPhone, iOS, App Store distribution and discovery, security, and other platform services, even when the payment itself happens somewhere else.

The filing comes after Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ 2021 order allowing external links. Apple’s earlier 27% plan drew heavy criticism, then a contempt finding, and then a temporary block on fees tied to outside payments. Now the court has to decide whether these lower rates are actually reasonable, or just a cleaner way to protect App Store economics and keep a lid on competition.

If you build, sell, or subscribe through iPhone apps, pay attention to this one. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and other developers argue that taking any cut on off-platform payments misses the point entirely. Google is under pressure too, including an alternative-billing reduction of roughly 4% in some markets, while the EU, South Korea, and Japan keep pushing for more openness. That could change pricing, margins, and how viable outside payments really are. You can read the filing on the U.S. court docket.