No More Apple Tax! Crypto Applications Receive Relief As Firm Forgoes 30% Share
A federal appeals court in the US has put an end to the notorious 30% “Apple Tax” applied to in-app purchases across all applications on the Apple ecosystem.
The court determined that Apple can no longer prevent developers from directing users to external payment solutions. “The Court discovered that Apple’s 30 percent fee allowed it to enjoy excessive profit margins and was unrelated to the worth of its intellectual property, rendering it anticompetitive,” the judgment stated.
For more than ten years, Apple’s App Store regulations mandated that developers utilize its exclusive payment processing system for in-app transactions, permitting the tech behemoth to claim a 30% cut from everything sold, including digital memberships and in-game purchases.
Here’s one reason Apple fought tooth and nail to disallow web payments for apps:
Because Apple’s IAP is bad in many ways, and *so many* apps will move to web-based payments now not mainly because of the 30% Apple fee, but because of how bad IAP is.
Let me give you examples:
— Gergely Orosz (@GergelyOrosz) May 1, 2025
This “Apple Tax” served as a significant revenue stream for the corporation, yet it also constituted a notable impediment for developers—particularly those within the crypto and DIGITAL COLLECTIBLE sectors—who could not provide direct sales of digital commodities without either inflating costs or removing essential features to satisfy Apple’s guidelines.
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Will Prices Drop as Apple Eliminates 30% Cut?
The repercussions for crypto applications are immediate and revolutionary.
Services like Coinbase Digital wallet, Magic Eden, and various Web3 games can now facilitate direct transactions for NFTs, tokens, and other digital goods via external platforms—without restrictions or fees imposed by the platform. Previously, many crypto applications had to remove crucial features or completely avoid the App Store to evade Apple’s cut, leading to a disjointed and unsatisfactory user experience.
Following the judgment, many businesses quickly began to reduce their prices.
“Apple has been found guilty of violating a federal injunction to uphold its illegal monopoly. They provided false testimony. They disregarded court directives. All for the sake of corporate avarice to enforce a 30% tax which you ultimately pay. The removal of the Apple tax means we will reduce costs for users by up to 30%,” stated Proton privacy.
Simultaneously, Dodo payments remarked, “With Dodo Payments, you can market digital products on your iOS App without surrendering 20–30% of your earnings to Apple. No more protocol lock-ins. No more hefty commissions. Just seamless, worldwide transactions efficiently managed by you. Retain a larger share of your income. Innovate freely. Dodo Payments makes it feasible.”
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Key Takeaways
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The decision from the court, reached after multiple years of litigation led by Epic Games (the creator of Fortnite), concluded that Apple’s anti-steering regulations were anti-competitive.
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The NFT marketplace Magic Eden, which had previously to remove essential features from its iOS application, can now sell assets directly, dramatically improving both revenue opportunities and user satisfaction.
The article No More Apple Tax! Crypto Apps Get Relief As Company Waives 30% Cut first appeared on 99Bitcoins.
