Viral outrage over Apple’s EU payment warnings misses key fact

Apple says the warning messages now appearing next to EU App Store listings that use third-party payment systems are not actually new. According to a number of recent reports, Apple added a warning with a red exclamation mark next to apps that it found were not using its own “private and secure payment system.” The message was seemingly meant to discourage users from using external payment mechanisms, as is now permitted under the new EU law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA). However, the iPhone maker confirmed to TechCrunch that these user-disclosure screens have been live on the EU App Store since the beginning of Apple’s DMA Compliance Plan back in March 2024. They were not newly added, as some had reported. It’s understandable that there was concern over the warning screens, given that Apple just suffered a major loss in court to Fortnite maker Epic Games. The court’s decision forced Apple to allow app developers in the U.S. to link to external payment options without having to pay ... Read full article.