‘Apple wants to make developers pay for iOS apps that can be sideloaded’

Apple reportedly plans to charge developers if they offer iOS apps that can be downloaded outside the App Store. As a result of the European Digital Markets Act, Apple must allow sideloading of apps from March.

If developers let users download iOS apps via their site and thus bypass the App Store, Apple still wants to demand compensation for this. That writes The Wall Street Journal based on conversations with insiders. The newspaper writes that the company will ‘give itself the ability to monitor every app downloaded outside the App Store’.

It is unclear exactly how Apple would plan to do this. Nor is it stated what these compensations should look like. For apps in the App Store, developers must give a percentage of sales to Apple; The company may also require this for sideloaded apps. The Wall Street Journal writes that Apple must first submit its plans to comply with the Digital Markets Act to the European Commission. Only once it has approved them can the tech giant actually implement them.

The ability to sideload apps on Apple devices is expected in the iOS 17.4 update. Presumably, only users in the European Union will get this option. The Digital Markets Act will come into effect from March 7. In addition to apps, this law also allows developers to offer offers and contracts outside the App Store. For example, from March Spotify may refer users who want to take out a subscription via the iOS app to its own website. In this way, Spotify avoids the thirty percent commission that it must pay to Apple if users would take out a subscription directly via the app.