Yesterday, a federal court made a decisive ruling in Epic Games v. Apple: Apple violated a 2021 injunction by continuing to restrict developers from linking to external payment methods, and by imposing a 27% fee when they did. The ruling represents a major shift for native app developers. Link to heading Why does it matter? Apple’s App Store has operated as a tightly controlled marketplace. Until now, developers couldn’t even tell users they could pay elsewhere. Apple’s 30% cut (the so-called "Apple Tax") meant higher prices for consumers, smaller margins for developers, and less freedom overall. After the 2021 injunction, Apple introduced a system called StoreKit External Purchase Link API. This surfaced a system disclosure sheet, a "scare screen," warning users that they were about to leave the app. Even worse, Apple still applied a 27% commission to these off-platform transactions.…