visionOS App Store officially opens up for alternative payment as DMA tightens up
visionOS v. 1.2. is now live
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Key notes
- visionOS App Store is now open for alternative payments.
- The feature starts with visionOS v. 1.2., as the EU’s DMA law tightens up.
- Alternative payments also have also arrived for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.
The European Digital Market Act (DMA) came into full effect earlier this year, forcing tech giants like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and more to comply and make some radical changes to their products. Apple, which was under fire over monopoly practices of its app store, has introduced an alternative payment—which is also coming to visionOS, the system that powers the Vision Pro headset.
The iPhone makers have recently confirmed that the latest update, visionOS 1.2, will bear support for these alternative payment options on visionOS App Store, especially for apps distributed in the European Union area. It has also previously arrived on devices running iOS 17.4, iPadOS 17.4, macOS 14.4, tvOS 17.4, and watchOS 10.4.
As developers, you can now integrate third-party payment processors to handle transactions directly within your apps or include links on them to direct users to external websites to complete the transactions.
Still, apps using these alternatives cannot also use the App Store In-App Purchase system on the same EU storefront and platforms, and Apple will also charge a reduced commission on transactions processed through these alternatives.
“For iOS apps distributed on the App Store and/or an alternative app marketplace that reach significant scale, you’ll pay €0.50 for each first annual install over 1 million first annual installs,” Apple says.
Tim Sweeney, the boss of Epic Games, has previously aired his dissatisfaction over Apple’s DMA App Store solution. While quoting our article on X (formerly Twitter), he said that the solution was poorly designed and imposed by executives, contrasting them with Apple’s highly promoted Mac security.
Microsoft has also somewhat been in a similar situation with its popular Windows 11-built-in browser, Edge. But, as the DMA takes place, you are now able to uninstall the browser, which once came as a pre-installed software that wasn’t possible to remove.
