Apple proposes up to 15% commission on US purchases made through App Store link-outs

Apple has proposed a new commission structure that would charge developers up to 15% on purchases made outside the App Store after users follow an external link from an iOS app, as the company’s legal battle with Epic Games moves into a new phase over what fees Apple can collect from linked-out transactions in the United States.

The proposal was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on August 13. Apple is asking for a 15% commission for standard apps, compared with the 30% commission generally associated with their App Store in-app purchases. Apps participating in the Video Partner Program, News Partner Program and Mini Apps Partner Program, as well as subscription renewals, would face a 10% rate. Apps qualifying for Apple’s Small Business Program would be charged 5%.

The proposed commissions would apply when a user follows a link from an app to an external website and completes a purchase there. The rates have not been approved and are now subject to consideration by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers as part of the continuing Epic Games litigation.

Apple said its proposed rates are supported by expert analysis and argued that they would allow a large number of U.S. developers to use external purchasing links profitably while providing Apple with compensation for the tools, technologies and services it supplies to developers. The company also compared the proposed structure with linked-out commissions charged by competing app marketplaces.

The filing follows years of litigation over Apple’s restrictions on alternative purchasing methods. A 2021 injunction required Apple to allow developers to direct users to purchasing options outside its in-app payment system. After appeals delayed implementation, Apple eventually introduced external purchase links but charged commissions of 12% to 27% on qualifying transactions.

Epic Games challenged that implementation, and in April 2025, Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in contempt of the injunction and prohibited it from collecting commissions on purchases generated through external links. Since that ruling, Apple has not been permitted to collect a fee when U.S. apps direct users to websites to complete purchases.

The Ninth Circuit subsequently upheld the contempt finding but reversed the district court’s complete prohibition on link-out commissions. The appeals court determined that Apple could receive compensation for its intellectual property and sent the issue back to the district court to determine what fee would be permissible.

The question of how that fee should be calculated is now central to the proceedings. MacRumors reports that under an approach based solely on the direct costs necessary to facilitate link-outs, the resulting commission could be zero. Apple argues that such a calculation would fail to account for the broader value its App Store platform provides to developers.

Epic seized on that distinction in its response. The company said Apple’s filing acknowledges that under the Ninth Circuit’s definition of “necessary costs,” the fee for web purchases made through link-outs would be 0%. Epic opposes Apple’s proposed 15% and 5% rates and argues that Apple should not be allowed to use broader intellectual-property valuations to justify additional commissions.

Apple's filing is in, and Apple admitted that under the Ninth Circuit's definition of "necessary costs" they would charge 0% for purchases made via linkouts to the web.

Apple proposed linkout fees of 15% for standard apps and 5% for Small Business Program apps. Epic believes…

— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) August 13, 2026

Apple, meanwhile, maintains that its proposed commissions should also be viewed against fees charged by competing marketplaces. In its filing, the company pointed to Google Play, Samsung’s Galaxy Store and Amazon’s Android marketplace. Apple specifically cited Google’s linked-out rates and noted that Epic had agreed to Google’s fee structure.

The submission came after Apple unsuccessfully sought to delay the fee-setting proceedings while the U.S. Supreme Court considers its challenge to the contempt ruling. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Apple’s appeal but declined to pause the lower-court process, allowing Gonzalez Rogers to continue determining an appropriate link-out fee in parallel.

Apple continues to argue that the fee proceedings should have been suspended pending the Supreme Court case and said it submitted the latest proposal to comply with the district court’s instructions. Its Supreme Court brief is expected by September 14, while Epic will have an opportunity to respond to Apple’s proposed commission structure in the district court.

For now, Apple’s proposed 5% to 15% commissions are not in effect. The district court must determine what fee Apple may ultimately charge when U.S. developers direct App Store users to external purchasing options, making the next stage of the Epic case potentially consequential for the economics of alternative payments on iOS.