Apple Proposes New App Store Link-Out Fees of 5% to 15% in Epic Legal Battle
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In a bid to resolve its protracted legal confrontation with Epic Games, Apple has submitted a new commission proposal to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The proposal establishes a revised fee structure – ranging from a maximum of 15% down to a minimum of 5% – specifically governing developers who offer external website payment links, known as link-outs, within their apps for the U.S. market.
Beyond satisfying the court’s prior ruling, this submission represents Apple’s most consequential attempt yet to erect a defensible profit boundary between its intellectual property rights and mounting antitrust pressure.
Commission Rates Cut in Half: The New Fee Framework Explained
According to court documents filed before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Apple will levy tiered commissions whenever a user taps an in-app link, navigates to a developer’s external website, and completes a purchase. The proposed rates represent a dramatic reduction from Apple’s historic App Store benchmarks.
Standard Apps
Developers under the standard tier will pay a 15% commission on link-out purchases. This compares favorably to the longstanding 30% commission Apple has traditionally charged for in-app purchases conducted directly within the App Store.
Partner Programs and Renewals
A 10% rate applies to participants in Apple’s News Partner Program, Video Partner Program, and Mini Apps initiative, as well as to subscription renewal transactions. This tier acknowledges the distinct commercial relationship Apple holds with media and platform partners.
Small Business Program
Qualified developers generating less than $1 million in annual revenue will face only a 5% commission – down from the 15% previously applied to their in-app purchases under the Small Business Program. Apple contends in its filing that these rates were derived through rigorous expert analysis and are, in fact, lower than the external link fees Google itself proposed during its own litigation with Epic Games.
The Brief Window of Zero Fees and the Supreme Court Endgame
To understand why this proposal matters, it helps to trace the arc of this exhausting legal odyssey. In 2021, Apple was ordered to permit developers to include external payment options. However, Apple’s initial response – a commission structure ranging from 12% to 27% – drew fierce criticism from developers, who argued that when third-party payment processing fees were factored in, their financial burden remained virtually unchanged.
That resistance led the court to issue a landmark finding of contempt of court against Apple in April 2025. The ruling effectively banned Apple from collecting any commission whatsoever on external link-out transactions. From that point, Apple’s de facto link-out rate in the U.S. market became zero percent.
On appeal, the higher court upheld the contempt finding. Yet it also affirmed that Apple is entitled to reasonable compensation for the platform and intellectual property it provides. The case was accordingly remanded to the district court to establish a fair rate – and it is in response to that directive that Apple has now put forward the 5%-to-15% framework.
What Happens Next: District Court, Epic’s Response, and October’s Supreme Court Hearing
The district court will now evaluate Apple’s new proposal and hear Epic Games’ counter-arguments before issuing its determination. Nevertheless, the decisive battlefield lies elsewhere.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already agreed to hear the case during its term beginning in October. Apple sought to persuade the district court to pause the fee-setting process until the Supreme Court delivers its verdict, but that request was denied.
Should the Supreme Court ultimately overturn the appellate court’s ruling, Apple could potentially nullify the district court’s prohibition on collecting link-out fees entirely. That outcome would render any interim fee framework moot – and hand Apple a sweeping victory in a battle it has been fighting, at enormous legal cost, for the better part of this decade.
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