Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that Apple is willfully violating the Court’s 2021 injunction. According to the Court"s order, Apple must allow developers to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action within their apps to direct customers to non-App Store purchasing mechanisms. Additionally, developers should be able to clearly communicate with their customers about payment options without any restrictions.
Although the court order was issued just yesterday, Spotify announced today that it has already submitted an updated app to the Apple App Store with changes that should comply with the Court"s ruling. Once Apple approves this update, Spotify users in the U.S. will benefit from these changes.
- Can finally see how much something costs in our app, including pricing details on subscriptions and information about promotions that will save money;
- Can click a link to purchase the subscription of choice, upgrading from a Free account to one of our Premium plans;
- Can seamlessly click the link and easily change Premium subscriptions from Individual to a Student, Duo, or Family plan;
- Can use other payment options beyond just Apple’s payment system—we provide a wider range of options on our website; and
- Going forward, this opens the door to other seamless buying opportunities that will directly benefit creators (think easy-to-purchase audiobooks)
In addition to Spotify, companies like Epic, Proton Mail, and others are also expected to release updated apps that support external payment systems. Stripe, a leading payment provider, announced a new method today for iOS developers to accept payments within their apps without incurring App Store commissions.
Stripe 🤝iOS developers
— Michael Luo (@AzianMike) May 1, 2025
Big news iOS app developers! You can now accept payments with @stripe outside of your app, with no iOS app store commissions.
The Stripe team 🧑🍳cooked up a quick guide walking you through how. Go live now!
Docs in the 🧵 pic.twitter.com/gKguWwBanv
During the quarterly earnings call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that the company strongly disagrees with the Court"s decision and plans to appeal. While developers are moving quickly to implement external payment links, Apple"s planned appeal indicates this dispute is far from over, potentially leading to further legal battle.