Apple's EU changes and what they mean for user acquisition
Apple announced new EU rules for iOS apps on January 25. Here is how the fee structure and link-outs could change your cost per acquisition and your funnel.
On January 25, Apple announced changes to iOS, Safari and the App Store for the 27 EU countries, in response to the Digital Markets Act. Developers can test in the iOS 17.4 beta now, and Apple says the changes reach users in March. Most coverage has been about the App Store itself. For anyone buying installs, the more useful question is which parts of the announcement touch your unit economics and your funnel, and which do not.
What Apple announced
According to Apple's announcement, the changes include:
- Distribution of iOS apps from alternative app marketplaces, with authorized marketplace developers.
- The ability to use payment service providers inside apps, and to link out to an external website to complete a purchase, with disclosure sheets shown to users who leave Apple's payment system.
- A browser choice screen the first time a user opens Safari on iOS 17.4 or later, and the option for browser apps to use engines other than WebKit.
- New optional business terms for developers, which must be adopted to use alternative distribution or payments.
The new terms are where the money is. Apple lists a 10% or 17% commission on digital goods and services, an additional 3% for using Apple's payment processing, and a Core Technology Fee of 0.50 euros for each first annual install over a 1 million threshold.
The fee matters most if you scale installs
The Core Technology Fee is charged per first annual install, not per paying user. For a subscription app with a low free-to-paid conversion rate, that changes the math on paid acquisition in a way a commission does not. Here is a hypothetical. Suppose an app already past the 1 million threshold buys installs in the EU at a 3 euro cost per install. The fee adds 0.50 euros per new first-time install, which is roughly a sixth on top of that cost. If only a small share of those installs ever pay, the fee lands on the whole cohort, not just the payers.
That is a reason to check which terms apply to you before you assume the new model is cheaper. Apple says developers must adopt the new terms to use alternative distribution or payments, and the announcement describes them as optional. Staying on the existing terms is a choice you can model, not a default you drift into. Run both versions against your own install volume and conversion rates before March.
Link-outs change the funnel and the measurement
Linking users to an external site to complete a purchase turns a store-contained flow into a web flow. That has two effects for a growth team:
- You gain a place to measure. A web checkout can carry your own parameters and fire your own events, which an in-store purchase does not. Teams that have struggled with partial attribution may find this attractive.
- You add a step where users can drop off. A user who leaves the app for a browser, and then returns, is more likely to be lost than one who taps once in the store. Test it as a funnel stage with its own conversion rate, not as a free upgrade.
We would not roll out link-outs to your whole EU audience at once. Start with a segment, compare payment completion and early retention against the in-store flow, and keep the in-store option for users who prefer it.
What the announcement does not cover
Apple's announcement does not describe any change to how ads are bought or attributed. It says nothing about how install attribution would work for apps distributed through an alternative marketplace, so do not assume your current measurement setup carries over to that channel. If you plan to distribute outside the App Store, ask your attribution vendor how it will handle that traffic before you commit. Likewise, the browser choice screen and alternative engines may change how mobile web traffic behaves, so keep an eye on landing page conversion by browser in EU markets after the update.
Practical takeaway
Before March, build a simple model with three inputs: your annual install count in the EU, your free-to-paid conversion rate, and your payment mix. Compare the existing terms with the new ones and see how each changes cost per paying user. Then decide whether link-outs deserve a controlled test. Do this with your own numbers and read the full terms on Apple's developer site, because the details will govern your actual cost.