Two Years After the DMA, Apple's App Store Monopoly Looks Different — But Stronger Than Expected

When the EU's Digital Markets Act came into force in March 2024, it was supposed to break Apple's iron grip on iOS app distribution. Apple would have to allow alternative app stores. Users could sideload apps directly from developers. The 30% App Store commission — long derided as a "developer tax" — would face real competitive pressure for the first time. Two years later, the DMA has delivered something more complicated: real alternatives exist, but Apple's financial model is largely intact, and the developer economics have shifted in unexpected ways.

What Actually Happened

Apple implemented DMA compliance in the EU with a new framework that allows "alternative marketplaces" — officially sanctioned third-party app stores that meet Apple's technical and financial requirements. Epic Games Store launched for iOS in the EU in early 2025. Aptoide, AltStore PAL, and others followed. By early 2026, there are over a dozen alternative iOS marketplaces operating in the EU, plus Japan (which implemented similar rules under its own legislation).

Users can now sideload apps in the EU — installing apps directly from a developer's website without going through any store. The process is deliberate friction: users must enable the feature in settings, acknowledge multiple security warnings, and verify the developer's digital signature. It works, but it's designed to be inconvenient enough that most users never bother. Apple would say this is appropriate security theatre. Critics would say it's obstruction by UX.

The Core Technology Fee — Apple's Masterstroke

The real story of DMA compliance isn't the alternative stores themselves. It's the Core Technology Fee (CTC). Apple charges €0.50 per install per year for any app that exceeds one million installs — regardless of which store it came from or whether the developer uses Apple's payment system. The CTC applies to App Store apps, alternative marketplace apps, and web distribution alike.

For large-scale free apps — games, social apps, anything with tens of millions of users — the CTC creates enormous costs that didn't exist under the old 30% commission model. A game with 10 million EU installs owes Apple €5 million per year, even if it uses a third-party payment processor and earns nothing from EU users. Epic Games called this "catastrophically harmful" for free-to-play games and initially refused to launch its iOS store before eventually capitulating. Setapp Mobile, which launched as an alternative iOS app store in 2024, quietly shut down its mobile operation in February 2026, citing exactly this problem.

The European Commission has been investigating the CTC as a potential DMA violation, but the investigation has not yet reached a conclusion. In the meantime, Apple continues collecting it.

Who Has Actually Benefited

The developers who have most visibly benefited from DMA compliance are mid-tier paid apps and developers with existing audiences outside the App Store. Games that already had a Steam presence — like many indie PC games — can now distribute EU iOS builds through their own websites, skipping the 30% commission and the App Store review process. For a developer selling a €5 game with 200,000 EU users, the CTC (€100,000 per year) is painful but manageable; avoiding the 30% commission (€300,000) makes it worth it.

Adult content platforms, gambling apps, and other categories Apple bans from its App Store have found a path to EU iOS users through alternative marketplaces — something that was simply impossible before. This represents real optionality even if the mainstream app economy hasn't been disrupted.

Enterprise IT teams have quietly benefited too. The ability to sideload apps makes managing corporate iOS devices easier in certain regulated environments, removing the need to enroll apps in Apple's Business Manager for some use cases.

What Has Not Changed

Outside the EU and Japan, the App Store remains exactly as it was. In the United States — the world's largest app market by developer revenue — Apple's 30% commission, mandatory payment system, and no-sideloading rules are unchanged. The Epic vs. Apple lawsuit produced a ruling requiring Apple to allow developers to link to external payment methods, but Apple's implementation added a 27% commission on those payments — marginally better than 30%, and with friction Apple added at every step.

Global developers building for the US market have gained almost nothing from DMA. EU-specific builds require separate engineering work, compliance overhead, and CTC exposure. Many smaller developers have concluded that the DMA market isn't worth the complexity — particularly since EU users are a minority of global installs for most apps.

What Comes Next

The European Commission's investigation into Apple's DMA compliance — specifically the CTC and the conditions Apple places on alternative marketplaces — is the next battleground. If the Commission rules that the CTC violates the DMA, Apple will either have to scrap it or accept massive fines. A ruling against Apple could arrive in late 2026 or 2027 and would force a genuine rethink of Apple's EU revenue model.

Meanwhile, Brazil and South Korea are drafting their own app store regulations, and US federal legislation requiring third-party app stores has stalled but not died. The global regulatory pressure on Apple's App Store is building — just more slowly than the DMA's architects hoped.

Actionable Takeaways

For developers: If you target EU users and your app exceeds 1 million EU installs, model the CTC against your 30% savings before assuming alternative distribution is cheaper. For most large apps, it won't be. For small and mid-tier apps with tight margins, the math can work — but only for EU distribution specifically.

For users: If you're in the EU and want to use apps that Apple bans, you now have options through alternative marketplaces. For mainstream apps, nothing has changed — the App Store remains the simplest and safest path.

For investors and analysts: Apple's Services revenue — which includes App Store commissions — is more resilient than the DMA's architects anticipated. The CTC has effectively replaced lost commissions on alternative marketplace transactions. Apple's financial model has adapted to the DMA more successfully than most predicted.