How to Implement Apple External Payments
Published: June 27, 2025
The U.S. court ruling in the Epic vs. Apple case in April 2025 has fundamentally changed how apps can be monetized. This decision blocks Apple from restricting in-app links to external payment systems in the US, freeing developers from the mandatory 30% Apple App Store fees. However, this new freedom presents a significant challenge: developers are now faced with independently managing complexities like global sales tax, compliance, fraud prevention, and cross-platform subscription support.
This guide provides a detailed, step-by-step process for implementing this superior payment strategy, allowing you to sell software more profitably and with greater control.
To make these issues easy to navigate, a Merchant of Record (MoR) like PayPro Global offers a solution that is less costly and has all the App Store essential features and even better: a larger variety of global payment methods, flexible pricing tiers, coupons, affiliate management, subscriptions tools, in-app and in-game purchases are all supported.
Plan Your Strategy and Pricing
Before even writing a single line of code, your first step is to create a solid plan based on data. The goal is to come to a smart decision, not a guess.
First, establish your baseline metrics. You need to know your starting point to measure success. Track your:
- Current Conversion Rate: What percentage of users who see your paywall complete a purchase?
- Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): How much revenue does the average user generate?
- Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): What is the total predicted revenue from a single customer?
Tracking these key figures is necessary to manage your SaaS. For a better grasp of what these numbers mean for your business, you can explore the library of SaaS metric calculators to analyze different scenarios.
With this data at hand, you can predict the likely impact. The primary strategic choice is how to price your external offer. Since you’re saving significantly on platform fees, you can pass some of that saving to the customer to incentivize them.
The Stoikk app, an early adopter of this model, offered a “25% extra discount” on their paywall for users who chose the external web payment option. This clear value proposition resulted in a slight uplift in conversions and an anticipated increase in LTV.
To make your decision, this detailed comparison table highlights the strategic differences.
|
Feature & Business Impact |
Apple In-App Purchase (IAP) |
External Payments (via PSP) |
External Payments (via Merchant of Record) |
|
Platform Fee |
15-30% of revenue |
2,9-5%, but all operational and compliance costs are borne by you. |
4,9-10% |
|
Pricing & Promotion Strategy |
Highly Restricted. Limited to Apple’s rigid, pre-defined price tiers and basic offers. |
Depends on the PSP features supported. |
Complete Freedom. A/B test prices, create custom coupons, bundle products, and offer regional discounts. |
|
Customer Relationship |
No Direct Relationship. Customer data is owned and fully anonymized by Apple. |
Direct Ownership. You own all customer data and the direct relationship. |
Direct Ownership. You get customer emails and data for marketing, support, and building long-term value. |
|
Checkout & Branding |
Generic Apple UI. The checkout experience is standard and cannot be customized or branded. |
Customizable. Control the entire user journey and branding using the PSP’s APIs. |
Fully Branded Experience. Control the entire user journey with a checkout that matches your brand identity. |
|
Churn Management |
Basic & Ineffective. A simple, one-click cancellation with no opportunity to retain the user. |
Requires In-House Build. PSPs provide APIs, but you must build and manage all retention logic. |
Advanced & Proactive. Implement exit surveys, offer discounts to save subscribers, and use sophisticated dunning logic. |
|
Global Compliance & Liability |
Handled, but Opaque. Apple manages compliance, but you have no control or insight into the process. |
Your Full Responsibility. You are 100% liable for global sales tax, fraud, chargebacks, and regulations. |
Fully Managed & Assumed. The MoR assumes full liability for global sales tax, fraud, and regulatory compliance. |
|
User Experience Friction |
Lowest Friction. The main advantage is the seamless, one-tap native purchase experience. |
Adds Several Steps. The redirect to the webpage and the checkout require careful optimization to minimize friction. |
Adds a Step. Redirect to the branded checkout. |
This table illustrates that while IAP is simple, an MoR provides the tools needed for sophisticated growth. Choosing the right pricing model is a critical part of this, and you can learn how to price your SaaS product effectively in our dedicated guide.
The Epic vs. Apple ruling applies specifically to the U.S. App Store. Furthermore, for most non-reader apps, Apple’s guidelines still require you to offer IAP as an option alongside your external payment link. You cannot remove IAP entirely.
Free Apple External Payments Checklist
A step-by-step plan on how to avoid App Store fees and successfully implement Apple external payments to boost your app's revenue.
-
Strategic planning tasks to complete before you start
-
Actionable steps for A/B testing your new paywall
-
Tech requirements for backend and payment integration
-
A go-live plan for a smooth and optimized rollout
Build and Test the In-App Component
Let’s focus on the user-facing button or link within your app. Its design and messaging are an important piece to encouraging users to take the external path.
The court ruling prohibits Apple from restricting the design or placement of this link. This allows you to A/B test different approaches to find what works best for your audience. To ensure your tests are statistically significant and yield clear results, follow our guide on running checkout A/B testing for SaaS. Start by testing a small segment of your US user base (e.g., 5-10%) to measure performance without putting your entire user base at risk.
Create two versions of your paywall and show them to different user groups.
Variant A (Control): Your existing IAP-only paywall.
Variant B (Test): A paywall with two clear choices.
- Option 1 (IAP): “Subscribe with Apple“
- Option 2 (External): “Subscribe & Save 25%” (on our website)
Use clear language that gives a benefit vibe for the external option. Words like “Save,” “Best Deal,” or “Exclusive Offer” will impact click-through rates. Track which variant generates more total revenue, not just conversions because some reports indicate that while conversions might dip slightly due to the added step. Total revenue often increases because of the higher margin per sale.
Free Apple External Payments Checklist
A step-by-step plan on how to avoid App Store fees and successfully implement Apple external payments to boost your app's revenue.
-
Strategic planning tasks to complete before you start
-
Actionable steps for A/B testing your new paywall
-
Tech requirements for backend and payment integration
-
A go-live plan for a smooth and optimized rollout
Engineer a Trustworthy Web Checkout Experience
When a user clicks your external link, they leave the familiar App Store ecosystem. So your web checkout must immediately establish trust and provide a frictionless experience.
- Brand Consistency: The transition must feel seamless. Use your app’s logo, colors, and fonts on the checkout page. The Stoikk app implemented a branded loading screen during the redirect to reinforce brand recognition and reduce user anxiety.
- Simplicity and Clarity: The design of your checkout page matters. For lower-priced digital goods, a single-page checkout usually converts better. However, for more expensive B2B SaaS products, a multi-step checkout that breaks down the information appears more professional and may perform better.
- Visible Trust Signals: Display security badges prominently. If you use a partner like PayPro Global, their compliance certifications (e.g., GDPR, PCI-DSS) serve as powerful trust signals. Also include links to your Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Free Apple External Payments Checklist
A step-by-step plan on how to avoid App Store fees and successfully implement Apple external payments to boost your app's revenue.
-
Strategic planning tasks to complete before you start
-
Actionable steps for A/B testing your new paywall
-
Tech requirements for backend and payment integration
-
A go-live plan for a smooth and optimized rollout
Ensure Instant and Reliable Post-Purchase Fulfillment
The moment after a user clicks “Pay” is the most critical. The experience of receiving their purchase must be instant and flawless.
This requires a secure technical connection between your web checkout and your app’s backend. When a payment is successfully processed, the payment provider should trigger a server-to-server call (a webhook) to your system. For developers looking to build this connection, you can refer to the technical details on using Webhook/IPN notifications in our documentation. Your server then needs to:
- Verify the authenticity of the purchase signal.
- Update the user’s account in your database to grant them access to the premium features.
- Trigger an automated email to the customer with their purchase confirmation and a detailed invoice for their records.
- When the user returns to the app, it should query their account status and immediately reflect the new subscription.
Plan for edge cases. What happens if a user completes the payment but closes their browser before being redirected back to the app? Your system, relying on the server-to-server signal, should still unlock their entitlements correctly so that the features are available the next time they open your app.
Free Apple External Payments Checklist
A step-by-step plan on how to avoid App Store fees and successfully implement Apple external payments to boost your app's revenue.
-
Strategic planning tasks to complete before you start
-
Actionable steps for A/B testing your new paywall
-
Tech requirements for backend and payment integration
-
A go-live plan for a smooth and optimized rollout
Offload Operational Complexity to MoR
Moving payments outside the App Store means you are now responsible for everything Apple used to handle. An MoR (merchant-of-record) is the most efficient solution for this, as it acts as the legal reseller of your software and manages the entire transaction lifecycle.
An MoR like PayPro Global handles these responsibilities by:
- Managing Sales Taxes: Managing global sales tax is one of the biggest hurdles. An MoR correctly charges, collects, and remits taxes in over 100 jurisdictions and manages all necessary filings, shielding you from significant legal and financial risk.
- Handling ALL Payments & Revenue Recovery: As part of its service, it securely processes all payments, manages fraud detection, and deals with refunds and chargebacks. For a closer look at these features, see how SaaS revenue recovery tools help reduce involuntary churn from failed payments.
- Providing a variety of Checkout Solutions: To optimize conversions and provide a seamless user experience, it supports a wide array of checkout types. These include a standard Web Checkout, a dedicated Mobile Checkout, embedded options like an iFrame or Pop-up, Dynamic Checkout Links, and even specialized solutions like an In-app or In-game checkout that integrate directly into your application’s environment.
- Revenue Retention & Growth Tools: It supports complex subscription models and provides built-in tools like coupons, cross-sells, upsells, and affiliate management to increase the value of each transaction.
By partnering with an MoR, you experience the benefits of higher margins and direct customer relationships without having to build a dedicated finance, legal, and compliance team from scratch.
Conclusion
In summary, using Apple external payments is a powerful way to increase revenue from your app. Success depends on a smart strategy, rigorous A/B testing, and a seamless user experience from the in-app click to the final purchase confirmation. By managing the front-end experience carefully and partnering with an experienced Merchant of Record like PayPro Global to handle the complex backend operations, you can capitalize on this opportunity.
FAQ
-
Apple’s standard fee is 30% of the total price for app sales and in-app purchases. But this commission is 15% for developers in the App Store Small Business Program (who earn up to $1 million annually) and for auto-renewing subscriptions after a user’s first year.
-
The way to avoid App Store fees is to direct users to an external payment system through a link in your app, which is permitted for the US market. By processing payments on your own website, you bypass Apple’s commission though become responsible for payment processing, tax, and compliance. But using a Merchant of Record (MoR) will take care of these complexities for much lower fees.
-
Yes, following the Epic vs. Apple court ruling, it is legal for apps on the US App Store to include pay buttons or links that direct users to an external website for payment. Apple is prohibited from blocking these links or penalizing developers for using them.
-
Generally, no. For most applications (excluding certain “reader” apps), their current guidelines still require you to offer Apple’s native In-App Purchase (IAP) system as an option alongside your external payment link. The external link serves as an alternative, not a complete replacement.
-
You will save significantly by avoiding Apple’s 15-30% commission on every sale. Though external payment solutions have their own service fees, the total cost is typically much lower (4,9-10%), allowing you to retain a much higher portion of your revenue.
-
An MoR (Merchant of Record) acts as the legal seller on your behalf, assuming full liability for all payment-related complexities. This is recommended because global sales tax, fraud prevention, compliance, and chargebacks will all be managed by the service, which you would otherwise have to manage yourself.
-
If you use a direct payment processor (PSP), you will be responsible for calculating and remitting global sales taxes, managing fraud prevention, and handling all customer chargeback disputes. This strategy requires significant operational resources and legal expertise. But when using an MoR, these will handled for you.
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