The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation came into effect earlier this year and has already forced Apple to make some deep changes to the App Store, including allowing developers to offer alternative payment options in their apps. As Apple Vision Pro is coming to Europe, Apple has now confirmed that alternative payment options will also be available on the visionOS App Store.
Alternative App Store payment options coming to visionOS
The news was confirmed by Apple on its website on Monday. The company says that developers working on visionOS apps will also have the option of selling content in their apps using alternative payment options rather than the App Store’s in-app purchase system. However, visionOS 1.2 is required to use this option.
“Alternative payment options are now supported starting in visionOS 1.2 for apps distributed on the App Store in the EU,” Apple said in a statement to developers. Apple Vision Pro pre-orders began on June 28 in France and Germany, as well as Australia, Canada and the UK. The headset will be officially available from July 12 in these countries.
Developers could already provide alternative payment options in their iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps for users in the EU. In this case, instead of charging the user through the App Store, the user is redirected to an alternative payment platform or website to complete their purchase. However, developers still have to pay Apple a fee for external transactions.
Last month, Apple released the second beta of iPadOS 18 for developers, which enables the same changes to the App Store on the iPad that previously came to the iPhone. This includes App Marketplaces, alternative payment options, and third-party browser engines.
Despite all the changes, the European Commission doesn’t seem satisfied with the changes Apple has made and has suggested that the company will be fined if it continues not to comply with the law.
H/T: Michael!
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