Seeing all these headlines about Apple making changes after the Epic lawsuit but honestly not sure if it actually affects how we distribute apps or handle payments.
Anyone actually seeing different options or is this just legal theater that doesn’t change much for developers?
The changes are mostly small tweaks that help bigger companies more than solo developers. You still need to go through Apple’s process for most things.
The payment stuff only applies in specific situations and regions. For most apps, you’re still using the same old App Store setup as before.
Changes do not help most developers at all.
The distribution game hasn’t changed at all. You’re still playing by Apple’s rules for getting users to find and download your app. I’ve been tracking CAC across multiple apps since these changes rolled out. No meaningful difference in acquisition costs or conversion rates. The payment options create more friction in your funnel. Users see extra steps and bounce. You end up paying similar fees but with worse conversion. Focus on what actually moves metrics instead of legal headlines.
Ran campaigns for three different apps this year and honestly the changes barely moved the needle for us.
The alternative payment thing sounds good on paper but the fees are almost the same when you factor in processing costs. Plus users get confused by the extra steps.
The real kicker is that Apple still controls discovery and ranking. They can make changes to the algorithm that hurt your organic downloads way more than any payment fee ever could.
Most of the actual benefits went to companies that were already big enough to negotiate directly with Apple anyway.
From what I’ve seen with our ads and campaigns, nothing really changed for us day to day.