iOS developers can now offer commission-free payments on web
By Steven Van ·
A court ruled Apple can't charge 27% on external payments, and Vercel released a Stripe-connected starter kit for web checkout in native iOS apps.
A federal court ruled in Epic Games v. Apple that Apple violated a 2021 injunction by restricting developers from linking to external payment methods and by charging a 27% fee when they did. Vercel wrote up what the ruling changes for native iOS developers and released a starter kit for web checkout.
Under the earlier StoreKit External Purchase Link API, users saw a system disclosure sheet warning them they were leaving the app. Links also had to sit in a separate section of the app, not inline with normal purchase flows. Vercel says the ruling means:
- Developers can include dynamic, context-aware links that take users directly to external payment pages.
- Apple can no longer charge a 27% fee on payments it doesn't process.
- The warning screen and the redirects to a generic browser session are gone.
The iOS Web Payments Starter Kit connects to Stripe Checkout and deploys on Vercel. It supports Apple Pay on the web, which can be offered in an external checkout flow separate from Apple's in-app purchase system. Vercel notes Apple Pay works in Safari and, as of iOS 16, in third-party browsers such as Chrome and Firefox on iOS.
