Ddos 
After the European Union forced iOS to “open up” under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Brazil has now notched a major win of its own. Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) recently confirmed in a press release that it has approved a settlement agreement with Apple. Under the deal, Apple commits to changing how the App Store operates in Brazil—allowing third-party app stores and enabling external payment options.
The case dates back to 2022, when CADE launched an investigation into whether Apple was monopolizing the market by restricting app distribution and payment methods. Under the newly approved settlement, Apple must implement the following changes within 105 days:
• Allow third-party app stores: iOS users will be able to download and install software marketplaces outside the App Store.
• Permit external payment links: Developers may include links inside apps that direct users to pay on external webpages.
• Enable third-party payments alongside IAP: Developers may integrate third-party payment methods directly in-app, but they must be displayed “side by side” with Apple’s in-app purchase (IAP) option.
CADE also stipulated that while Apple may show security warnings for sideloading or third-party payments, those messages must be “neutral, objective, and limited”—not the kind of alarming language or cumbersome friction historically used to deter users.
Yet even as competition is opened, Apple plainly has no intention of surrendering profitability. According to details obtained by Brazilian tech outlet Tecnoblog, the new fee structure is designed to preserve Apple’s revenue stream:
- Standard App Store commission: Remains at 10% or 25% (depending on developer scale and subscription category).
- Using Apple’s payment system: If an app is downloaded via the App Store and uses Apple’s payment rails, developers pay an additional 5% transaction fee.
- External-link “steering” fee: If an app includes a clickable button or link that directs users to pay externally, Apple still charges a 15% fee.
- No fee only for “static plain text”: Apple charges nothing only if developers merely inform users in non-clickable text to purchase elsewhere—without any links or buttons.
- Third-party app stores: Apple will impose a 5% Core Technology Commission.
In my view, Brazil’s agreement is largely a replica of the model Apple has already used in the EU—and, in some respects, in its U.S. concessions as well.
On the surface, Apple loses: it must allow third-party stores and alternative payments. In the fine print, however, Apple still ensures that even developers who bypass the App Store pay a toll—through carefully calibrated fees such as the 15% steering charge and the 5% core technology levy. This underscores a strategic shift from “sealed-garden absolutism” to “paid openness”: freedom is available, but the platform maintenance fee remains non-negotiable.
With Brazil entering the fray—alongside mounting legal and regulatory pressure in Japan, South Korea, and the United States—2026 may well become the year iOS undergoes its most consequential restructuring yet. For developers, the menu of options will expand, but whether it actually reduces costs will depend on meticulous arithmetic rather than hope.
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