Apple introduces iPhone to alternate app stores

Apple announced on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, that it has opened iPhones to alternative app stores in Japan to comply with new laws aimed at stoking competition in the country’s smartphone market.

Under Apple’s new rules, Japanese developers can launch their own app marketplaces on iPhone and pay Apple as little as 5% of sales made through those marketplaces and apps.

The world’s leading multinational technology company introduced these new changes to comply with the Mobile Software Competition Act MSCA.

As informed by Apple, these updates create new options for developers to distribute apps on alternative app marketplaces, and to process app payments for digital goods and services outside of Apple In-App Purchase.

Developers will also be able to offer their own in-app payments for apps distributed through Apple's App Store, though Apple said the option will be offered alongside its own in-app payment system and that developers will still pay commissions.

Japan is the latest jurisdiction to get involved in Apple's App Store business model, where developers long paid commissions of up to 30% on in-app purchases of digital goods and services.

While Apple is still litigating over what it can charge developers in the United States, in Europe the U.S. technology company has been required to open the iPhone to alternative marketplaces.

Additionally, Apple also said it will run a basic security check called a notarization on all apps distributed through alternative marketplaces.

"Across these changes, Apple has worked to reduce new privacy and security risks the law creates to provide users in Japan the best and safest experience possible," said Apple in a blog.