Apple adds red exclamation mark warnings on EU App Store listings for apps using third-party payment systems, not Apple's “private and secure payment system”
Apple suggests that users are putting themselves at risk by using third-party alternatives.
The VergeJess Weatherbed
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s EU distribution changes paired alternative app stores with notarization and malware-scanning requirements, while the company repeatedly framed those changes as carrying security risks. The payment labels extend that risk framing to apps that remain in Apple’s own store but use an alternative payment route.
A subsequent Apple statement says the warnings have been present since March 2024 and that proposed changes were paused following EU feedback, making the dispute less about a newly introduced feature than about how platform disclosure is presented under the new rules.
First-order effects
EU App Store listings using third-party payments carry a conspicuous warning that contrasts those options with Apple’s payment system, potentially changing users’ perception at the point of purchase.
Developers that route users away from in-app purchase face an added conversion hurdle even while retaining App Store distribution.
Second-order effects
Payment providers and developers have a stronger incentive to demonstrate security and trustworthiness in their own checkout flows, because Apple’s listing presentation supplies a competing trust signal.
The labels sharpen scrutiny of whether Apple’s compliance mechanics preserve its commercial advantage; Apple’s account of holding off on label changes after EU feedback puts that presentation under particular attention.
Third-order effects
If regulated platforms can satisfy openness requirements while shaping user choices through warnings and interface design, control may shift from formal access rules to the terms of presentation.
The episode is part of a broader test of whether competition rules can address gatekeeper influence over payments without preventing legitimate security disclosures.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift from platform control through outright restrictions toward control exercised through compliance design, trust messaging, and checkout interfaces.
Apple is placing warnings on EU apps that don't use App Store payments. Blatant scare tactics to put consumers off using cheaper external payments systems, where Apple doesn't earn its 30% cut www.theverge.com/news/667484/ ...
This is in the EU — the app is not available in the US so I can't load it. — This appears to be the app in the screenshots: https://apps.apple.com/... Can any EU followers verify? It's so outrageous that it's hard to believe... but not THAT hard. — https://mastodon.social/.…
@krzyzanowskim So far we've not seen this outside of apps using external purchases entitlement in the EU. I don't think Apple would try this given the environment.
@keleftheriou Yes, it is real. We're currently working on a privacy-focused browser for iOS called Psylo, the first iOS browser that opens App Store links in the web. Here's a screenshot of Instacar page: [image]
@maric_viktor ... check wayback machine, yea this language was in the original Jan 2024 rules, probably just first time it's been seen in the wild no sign that they are doing this on US companies under the new ruling
I'm hesitant to believe this. The copy seems sloppy, and I was under the impression that Apple can still require their own payment system, however obscure its placement is.
Apple is placing warnings on EU apps that don't use App Store payments | Apple suggests that users are putting themselves at risk by using third-party alternatives.