With iOS 17.4, Apple began supporting alternative app markets in the European Union, and the first of these stores will launch soon to give consumers new ways to install apps without having to use the App Store.
Developer Riley Testut, known for the Game Boy Advance emulator GBA4iOS, works on AltStore, one of several alternative app markets. As he noted TechCrunch, app marketplaces like AltStore will be able to monetize in ways not currently possible. AltStore will accept payment through Patreon instead of earning through paid apps or ads.
To use the first AltStore apps developed by Testut, users will have to pay $1 to $3 per month via Patreon. The Delta video game emulator will initially be free, and the clipboard manager Clip will require a $1 pledge. Later beta versions of Delta and Clip will require $3 per month to download and use.
With Patreon, Testut is able to offer subscription-based pricing that doesn’t give Apple a 15-30 cut. Patreon collects between five and eight percent of revenue earned, depending on the date you joined Patreon, plus a payment processing fee that ranges from three to five percent.
Patreon’s fees are below Apple’s fees, but if an AltStore app has more than one million first annual installs in a year, Apple will charge a €0.50 core technology fee for each additional app install. The Core Technology Fee (CTF) makes it risky to distribute free apps through alternative app markets, but Apple recently said it is working on a solution to avoid bankrupting free apps that go viral and cost too many fees.
Once AltStore is up and running and Testut gets it working properly, other developers will also be able to distribute their apps through it. They will have the option of using Patreon like Testut does for their apps or another alternative. Patreon has the advantage of providing tiers of rewards, exclusive blog posts for subscribers and other alternative content, and the number of subscribers can be limited to avoid Apple’s CTF.
Testut plans to launch the AltStore as soon as it receives final approval from Apple, and as with all alternative app marketplaces, it will be limited to the European Union. Apps can only be installed via an alternative method on iPhone, not iPad, and only in eligible European countries. There are no changes to the App Store for the rest of the world that would allow an alternative installation of the app.
Last week, the European Commission (EC) opened an investigation into Apple’s non-compliance to determine whether the changes it has made are sufficient to meet the requirements of the Digital Markets Act. Apple could be forced to change some of its rules or change the fee for the underlying technology if the European Commission decides that Apple’s updates don’t go far enough.