Stripe shows iOS developers how to avoid Apple’s App Store commission

Payments processing software provider Stripe is ready to help iOS app developers bypass Apple’s cut of App Store transactions.

Following yesterday’s ruling in the Apple-Epic antitrust trial, where Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers outright shamed Apple for not permitting external payment links in apps as she had previously ruled, Stripe shared documentation that shows iOS developers how to avoid the Apple commission.

In a post on X, Stripe product manager Michael Luo said the team “cooked up a quick guide” that walks iOS developers through how to accept payments using Stripe outside of their apps, so they can take advantage of the new option, which was made possible by the court’s decision.

Apple allowed developers to link to external websites to make purchases, but it only reduced its 30% commission by 3%, and added “scare screens” that warned consumers about the potential dangers of paying developers outside its App Store. Judge Rogers said Apple’s policy didn’t follow either the spirit or the letter of the law, in terms of her prior injunction, and ordered the company to change its policies immediately.

Stripe’s new documentation explains how developers can set up a link inside their app to accept payments on iOS for digital goods using Stripe Checkout. The option would redirect an app’s customers to a secure, Stripe-hosted payments page as a part of the new checkout experience, the company says.

Of course, using Stripe is not as simple as taking advantage of the default option of Apple’s in-app purchases, as it requires developers to set up and maintain their own payments page and checkout experience. However, Stripe’s standard payment processing fees are 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, making it a much more affordable alternative to Apple’s 30% commission (or even its 15% commission for select apps, like those in Apple’s Small Biz program or subscription apps, starting in year two).

Stripe’s announcement is already gaining traction, with the news getting thousands of likes on X from eager developers.

Longtime Apple critic, David Heinemeier Hansson, who is the creator of Ruby on Rails and co-owner of 37Signals, which makes software like Basecamp and HEY, also praised Stripe’s solution. Hansson, over the years, has repeatedly feuded with Apple for rejecting HEY’s email and calendaring apps because they were set up to avoid using Apple’s in-app purchase mechanisms.

On X, Hansson suggested the change to Apple’s policies to now allow for external payments will make more businesses possible on the App Store.

“Apple’s loss in court is immediately opening up a whole new world for app developers,” he says. “Entire business models were impossible under the old 30% regime.”