Apple to appeal European DMA fine of €500 million

Apple will challenge a €500 million fine imposed by the European Commission for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA) with its App Store.

Under the DMA, app developers distributing their apps via Apple’s App Store should be able to inform customers of alternative offers outside the App Store, show them those offers, and allow them to make purchases.

In April 2025, Apple was fined for restricting app developers from redirecting consumers to offers outside the App Store. The European Commission found that Apple failed to comply with this obligation and imposed a penalty of €500 million.

“Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store. Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers,” the Commission said in a statement at the time.

Following the fine, Apple decided to make changes to its App Store policies, specifically related to the anti-steering policies. The American tech company removed many of the previously established barriers for app developers seeking to direct users to alternative payment solutions. For example, Apple allowed developers to add a single link to an external website to their App Store page or software.

In addition, Apple introduced a new set of business terms that cover these types of transactions.

The European Commission found that this wasn’t enough and forced Apple to add other ways to link to external services, including adding promotions to an app and alternative payment methods.

Apple argues that the European Commission is “mandating” how Apple should run the App Store, but is harming both developers and users. That’s why the tech company has filed an appeal for infringing the DMA.

“Today, we filed our appeal because we believe the European Commission’s decision, and its unprecedented fine, go far beyond what the law requires. As our appeal will show, the EC is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms that are confusing for developers and bad for users. We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the Court,” Apple wrote in a statement on Monday.

It's unclear at this time when the appeal will be handled.