What are the new EU App Store terms?

On Tuesday, after much back-and-forth with the European Union, Apple has rolled out new and simpler terms and fee structures for developers that distribute in the area.

The terms are greatly simplified. Core technology fees are mostly exterminated, replaced by percentages. For App Store apps using Apple In-App Purchase, the new commission will be 26 percent. For the vast majority of developers, including auto-renewing subscriptions after their first year, that fee is now 15 percent.

For App Store apps using alternative payment processing, the commission is be 20 percent.

For App Store apps that link out of the app to for external payments outside of the App Store, the commission has dropped to 15 percent. Special programs like the App Store Small Business Program, Mini Apps Partner Program, or Video Partner Program lower this to 10%

For apps distributed via alternative app marketplaces or the web, Apple will charge a 5 percent Core Technology Commission.

Other new requirements are simplified

There are some child safety protections for developers using alternative payments. Apps in the kids category can’t include links to websites to complete transactions, for example.

If the user is under 18, all apps that use alternative payment processing must include a parental gate to link out to a website. And users under 13 apps from the App Store cannot link out to websites.

There are also extensions to the eligibility requirements. Most of the hard limits on finances are gone, replaced by audits. Only one of the five below are required.

• Meet a moderate financial-stability bar as scored by Dun & Bradstreet.
• Are publicly traded or owned by a publicly traded company.
• Have received venture funding from an established investment firm.
• Have completed a financial audit by a licensed accountant.
• Are a government entity, educational institution, or nonprofit.

And, Apple is making it clear that it is not responsible for what happens if a user downloads and app from a “bad actor.”

Web distribution, which is available only in the EU, does not have a marketplace operator standing behind it or ongoing oversight like the kind Apple provides for the App Store. This means a bad actor distributing via the web can operate for a long time, harming users, before anyone catches it. In order to keep EU users as safe as possible, Apple will continue to require every alternatively distributed app to go through Notarization — a baseline review focused on basic functionality and protection from serious threats.

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