Apple's US Link-Out Fee Is Zero Until a Judge Sets It, and Apple Is Asking for Up to 15%
If your iOS app sells anything digital in the US, you can send users to your own web checkout today and Apple takes nothing from that sale. That has been true since the contempt ruling in Epic v. Apple in April 2025, and it still holds while a court works out what Apple may charge instead. Apple’s opening bid is 15%. Epic’s answer is close to zero.
For developers the window is open now, and it won’t stay free forever. What you build in the meantime should hold up whichever number the court lands on.
What the courts have settled
The Ninth Circuit ruled on December 11, 2025. It upheld the core finding: Apple’s rules after the 2021 injunction effectively blocked linked-out purchases, and that was contempt. Three practical points survived the appeal intact.
Apple can’t put scare screens in the way: warnings built to deter users from leaving the app are out. Dynamic links are allowed, so a button can log the user in on your site and drop them straight onto the right product page. And Apple can’t ban external links outright.
Two things went back to the district court. The total ban on any commission was overbroad. Apple may charge for costs “genuinely and reasonably necessary” to run external links and linked-out purchases, and no more. And Apple can limit how loud your link is. You get the same fonts, sizes, number and placement Apple uses for its own purchase buttons. You don’t get more.
So the rule today: link out, style the link like Apple’s own, deep-link and log users in, and pay Apple 0% in the US storefront.
The fee fight
In August Apple filed its proposed rates for link-out purchases:
- 15% for standard apps that pay the 30% in-app commission
- 10% for apps in the Video Partner, News Partner and Mini Apps Partner programs, and for subscription renewals
- 5% for Small Business Program members
Epic called those numbers far outside what the Ninth Circuit allows. It also pointed to a concession in Apple’s own filing: under the court’s definition of necessary costs, Apple would charge 0% on purchases made via links to the web. Epic had about 60 days from mid-August to file its opposition with expert evidence. Then comes briefing and a hearing before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Apple asked for a settlement conference; Epic didn’t agree to one.
Running alongside that, the Supreme Court agreed in June to hear one question: can a court find contempt for breaking an injunction’s spirit when its text didn’t ban the exact conduct? It refused in August to pause the rate proceedings while it decides. A ruling is likely around mid-2027. If Apple wins there, the contempt finding could fall, and with it the basis for the zero-fee period.
What to build now
Ship the link-out. If your margins on digital goods are thin at 30%, a web checkout is the biggest lever you have. Keep it inside Apple’s styling ceiling and match Apple’s own buttons exactly. A link that outshines Apple’s hands it a reason to reject the update.
Price for a fee you don’t know yet. Run the web price against three cases: 0%, the 5 to 15% Apple wants, and something in between, plus your own processor costs. If the web channel only wins at 0%, it’s a promotion. If it still wins at 15%, it’s a business.
Keep in-app purchase working. The ruling covers the US storefront. Every other market still runs on its own rules, and a user who won’t leave the app should still be able to pay. Treat the link-out as an extra path, and keep StoreKit as the default.
Instrument the funnel. You need conversion rates for the in-app sheet and the web checkout, split by price point and by new versus renewing users. Apple’s 10% tier for renewals tells you where it expects the money to be. Your own data will show whether moving renewals to the web is worth a fee.
Watch two dates. The first is the district court’s rate decision, once Epic’s experts are in. The second is the Supreme Court’s ruling on contempt. Either could change the economics within a year.
The free period is real money, but it’s also the worst moment to bet the business on a number. Build the channel and measure it, and keep the old path running.
For the wider fight over the 30% cut, see the App Store’s 30 percent problem, and for pricing models on either channel, the subscription reckoning.