Apple and Google are being forced to open their stores
Apple and Google long took up to 30% of spending in mobile games. Courts and lawmakers in the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea have ordered them to allow rival stores or outside payment, and both have answered with lower fees rather than none.
Latest figure · South Korea
26%
What Apple and Google charge in South Korea on a payment made through another company's billing system: up to 26%.
Apple's terms in each market, as it announced them or as reported
Where it stands
Google lost its US case outright and must carry rival stores inside its own. The first arrived in August 2026. Apple won most of its US case but was found in contempt in 2025 for getting around the one order it lost, and the Supreme Court will hear its appeal. Apple's new European terms started on 1 October 2026, and eighteen organizations say they still break the law. Few players have switched. Epic's Steve Allison says its mobile store is far short of its target.
Where Apple has been made to allow outside payment it still takes 15% to 26% of the sale. The exception is the United States, where a court has set the fee at zero for now.
SourceApple's terms in each market, as it announced them or as reported
| Year | Apple's cut of a sale made outside its own payment system, by market |
|---|---|
| US | 0% |
| EU | 15% |
| Japan | 15% |
| South Korea | 26% |
| Market | Status | What Apple and Google must allow | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | Google: rival stores ordered in | Google must carry rival app stores inside its own Play store and give them access to its catalog of apps, under a 2024 court order. The first, Aptoide, arrived on 10 August 2026. | |
| USA | Apple: outside payment links, no fee for now | Apple must let apps link to their own web checkout, and since a contempt ruling in April 2025 it may take no cut of those sales. An appeals court has since said it may charge something. Apple has asked for up to 15%, and the judge has not ruled. | |
| EU | Open, with new fees in force | Apple must allow rival stores, downloads from the web, outside payment and links out. Since 1 October 2026 it charges 15% on sales made through a link out and 5% on sales in apps distributed outside its store. Eighteen organizations told the Commission on 8 September that the terms still breach the law, and the Commission has not said whether it will close the case it opened in 2025. | |
| Japan | Opened by law, not by a court | Japan's Mobile Software Competition Act took full effect on 18 December 2025. Apple now allows rival stores, outside payment and links out in Japan, and cut its own store's commission to 10% or 21%, plus 5% when its payment system is used. | |
| India | Google: outside billing ordered, on appeal | Google must let apps use outside billing for apps and in-app purchases and may not stop them pointing users elsewhere. The competition regulator ordered this in 2022, and an appeals tribunal upheld it in March 2025 while cutting the fine from 9.36 billion to about 2.17 billion rupees. | National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Competition Appeal (AT) No. 04 of 2023 (28 March 2025) |
| UK | Still consulting, but paying out | The regulator compels nothing yet. It gave Apple and Google a special legal status in October 2025 that lets it set rules for them, and in June 2026 it consulted on forcing both to let apps point users to outside payment, with a decision due later in 2026. The courts moved first: in September 2026 a tribunal approved a £260 million settlement between Google and UK app developers, £160 million of it for developers. A consumer claim goes to trial on 5 October 2026. | |
| South Korea | Law passed in 2021, fines still not imposed | South Korea was first to ban app stores from forcing their own payment systems, in 2021. Apple and Google responded by charging up to 26% on outside payments. The regulator proposed fines in October 2023 and had still not imposed them in August 2026. | |
| Brazil | Opened by a competition settlement | Apple has allowed rival app stores, outside payment and links out in Brazil since 18 June 2026, under an agreement with the competition regulator CADE. It cut its store's commission to 10% or 21%, plus 5% when its own payment system is used. |
Timeline
2021
A US judge rules for Apple on nine of ten counts, and against it on one
In the case brought by Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers finds for Apple on nine of ten counts. On the tenth she orders Apple to stop banning apps from linking to their own payment pages.
2023
A jury finds against Google on every question
In Epic's separate case against Google, a jury unanimously answers yes to every question put to it, finding that Google illegally maintained a monopoly over app distribution and payments on Android phones.
2024
A judge orders Google to carry rival stores inside its own
Judge James Donato orders Google to let rival app stores be downloaded from Google Play, and to give them access to Play's catalog of apps, for three years from November 2024.
2025
Apple is found in contempt and barred from taking any cut of outside sales
Judge Gonzalez Rogers finds that Apple deliberately disobeyed her 2021 order. Apple had allowed links but charged a commission on the sales they led to and showed users warning screens. She bars any commission on those sales and refers the matter for possible criminal contempt.
The European Commission fines Apple 500 million euros
The Commission fines Apple for breaking the Digital Markets Act's rule that developers must be free to steer users to offers outside the App Store.
Japan's app store law takes effect, and Apple opens up there
Japan's Mobile Software Competition Act takes full effect on 18 December. The day before, Apple announces rival stores, outside payment and links out for Japan, with a new set of commissions.
2026
Google sets new fees worldwide and says its fight with Epic is over
Google announces a fee of 20% on sales from new installs and 10% on subscriptions, plus 5% if the developer uses Google's payment system, and a program for registering rival stores. It starts in Europe, the UK and the US by the end of June and reaches the rest of the world by September 2027.
The Supreme Court agrees to hear Apple's appeal
An appeals court had upheld the contempt finding in December 2025 but said Apple may charge a limited fee on outside sales, and sent the question of how much back to the trial judge. On 30 June 2026 the Supreme Court agrees to hear Apple's challenge to the contempt finding itself.
The first rival store appears inside Google Play
Aptoide becomes the first outside store that US users can install from Google Play, with access to 1.9 million apps and 295,000 games from Google's catalog. It is the only one. Neither Epic nor Microsoft has joined.
A judge gives Google a week to make rival stores easier to install
Judge Donato tells Google that the warnings and extra steps it puts in front of users installing a rival store are not acceptable, and orders them removed within a week. Six days later Google shows a new version and asks for about ten more days.
Apple's one set of terms for Europe takes effect
Apple announced on 18 August 2026 that it would replace its European fees with a single schedule, and the schedule took effect on 1 October 2026: 26% on sales through its own payment system, 20% through another payment system, 15% on sales made through a link out, and 5% on sales in apps distributed outside the App Store. Its charge of half a euro per install ended with it.
A UK tribunal approves Google's settlement with app developers
The Competition Appeal Tribunal approves a settlement of £260 million between Google and UK app developers over Google Play commissions, on a collective claim brought by Professor Barry Rodger. £160 million goes to eligible developers and £100 million to litigation funding, insurance and legal costs. Google makes no admission of liability or wrongdoing. Liz Coll's separate consumer claim reached trial at the same tribunal on 6 October 2026.
Consequences
012026
Six years of lawsuits, a 5% cut
Neil Long of mobilegamer.biz works out that Google's new terms cut what most developers pay by about five percentage points. He argues the complexity is deliberate: the harder the new options are to use, the fewer developers will bother.
022026
Warning screens turn away most people who try a rival store
Steve Allison, who runs the Epic Games Store, says about 80% of people who start installing it give up at the warning screens the platforms show. With a different fee schedule in every market, he says, most developers are waiting to see what happens.
mobilegamer.biz, interview with Steve Allison (16 March 2026)
032026
In Europe, Apple gave up very little
John Gruber reads Apple's new European terms as 'a near-total victory for Apple'. The one real concession he finds is the cut on sales through Apple's own payment system, from 30% to 26%.
042026
The gate may be moving from the store to the developer
From September 2026 Google requires Android developers to verify their identity with Google, whichever store distributes their apps. F-Droid, a long-running independent Android store, argues in an open letter that this leaves every rival store permanently at a disadvantage, because its developers still have to register with Google.
Objections
Counterpoint2026
Players have not moved to rival stores
The best-placed challenger is well short of its own target. Epic's mobile store has close to 30 million installs, against a goal of 100 million by the end of 2024.
mobilegamer.biz, interview with Steve Allison (16 March 2026)
Counterpoint2026
A law on the books is not a rule enforced
South Korea legislated first, in 2021. Apple and Google complied by charging up to 26% on outside payments. The regulator proposed fines of up to 47.5 billion won for Google and 20.5 billion won for Apple in October 2023, and nearly three years later had again delayed imposing them.
Counterpoint2026
Developers and the regulator disagree about whether Apple now complies
Eighteen organizations, including the European Games Developer Federation, told the European Commission in September 2026 that Apple's new terms still break the law's rule on steering users to outside offers. The Commission had already said it welcomes the terms and will monitor how Apple applies them. The letter has no legal force.
What to watch
2026
Whether the Commission closes its Apple case
Apple's European terms took effect on 1 October 2026. The European Commission has not said whether it will close the non-compliance case it opened in 2025, and eighteen organizations told it on 8 September 2026 that the new terms still breach the law. No date has been published for a decision.
2026
The Google Play consumer trial reaches judgment
The Competition Appeal Tribunal began full hearings on 6 October 2026 in Liz Coll's claim for about 20 million UK consumers who spent on the Play Store between 2015 and July 2026, worth more than £1 billion. Google is contesting it and says it charges some of the lowest fees in the market. The tribunal has published no date for judgment.
2027
The Supreme Court hears Apple
Early 2027, when the Supreme Court could hear Apple's appeal. Epic's brief is due on 13 November 2026. A win for Apple could cancel the order that stops it charging for outside sales in the US. Separately, the trial judge has still to rule on the fee of up to 15% that Apple has asked for.
Further reading
- ReportingFollowing Epic loss, Google has started hosting rival app stores in Play Storearstechnica.com
- Community'That is not acceptable': Judge orders Google to make rival app store installs easiertheverge.com
- CommunityApple announces changes to iOS in Japanapple.com
Where to follow it The Verge policy desk, MacRumors legal coverage, mobilegamer.biz, European Commission DMA enforcement updates, Japan Fair Trade Commission MSCA enforcement
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