Alternative iPhone App Stores Expand In EU And Japan

https://www.findarticles.com/alternative-iphone-app-stores-expand-in-eu-and-japan/

Publish Date: 2026-02-22 05:01:00

The iPhone’s single‑store era is ending in key markets. Thanks to new competition rules in Europe and fresh mandates in Japan, alternative app stores are now live on iOS, bringing new storefronts, business models, and discovery tools that challenge the status quo while still threading Apple’s security requirements.

Apple continues to notarize apps for baseline safety checks, but third‑party marketplaces set their own policies, curate their own catalogs, and handle customer support and refunds. The result is a fast‑growing patchwork of iOS marketplaces, each betting that better economics or better discovery can win over both developers and users.

What changed in the EU and Japan for iOS apps

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act requires “gatekeepers” to allow alternative app distribution and payments. Apple’s response introduces new “alternative terms” for EU distribution, including a Core Technology Fee of €0.50 for each first annual install of a marketplace app from the very first install, as well as notarization to ensure apps meet baseline platform integrity standards.

In Japan, Apple announced compliance with the Mobile Software Competition Act, enabling developers to distribute apps and process payments outside the App Store. Under those terms, Apple’s commission ranges from 10% to 21%, with an additional 5% payment processing fee for Apple in‑app purchases, a 5% core technology fee, and a 15% store services commission on qualifying web sales initiated via app links.

Meet the new iOS marketplaces gaining traction

AltStore PAL: Co‑created by Riley Testut, known for the Delta emulator, this open source marketplace embraces a grassroots model. Developers self‑host their apps by publishing an alternative distribution packet and sharing a “source” that users add to AltStore. That makes the catalog user‑driven, with popular additions including UTM (virtual machines on iOS), OldOS (a SwiftUI recreation of…

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