Apple Changes US App Store Rules; Apps Can Now Allow External Payments

The change was announced a day after a judge criticized the company for not taking action against its ‘anticompetitive’ behavior.

An Apple store in Manhattan Beach, Calif., on March 25, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Apple has implemented certain changes to its App Store rules in the United States, allowing developers to offer users alternate methods of making in-app purchases, the company said in a May 1 statement.

The decision came a day after U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, in an April 30 ruling, criticized Apple for not following a 2021 court order that sought to prohibit the company’s “anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing.”