Just before Christmas, the Dutch competition authority ACM (Authority for Consumers and Markets) published a decision requiring Apple to open up alternative payment systems for publishers of dating apps.
On Friday, Apple reluctantly bowed to this demand (although it continues to appeal against the decision), and announced the changes it will make to the App Store’s rules in order to comply. These include the creation of two new entitlements that developers can apply for, allowing for direct payment systems and links to external payment sites respectively.
Apple also announced that developers who want to use these entitlements will have to upload and maintain two separate binaries for their apps: one for the Netherlands, and another for all other App Store countries.
Apple may have hoped that making these narrow and reluctant concessions would put the matter to bed. But the ACM still has to consider Apple’s proposed rule changes and discuss them with developers.
“ACM will now assess whether Apple meets the requirements that ACM had imposed,” the organisation has announced. “As part of that assessment, ACM will sit down with dating-app providers, among other interested parties.”
We will update this article with further news as it emerges.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation (using DeepL) and additional reporting by David Price.
Author: Anders Lundberg, Contributing Editor
Anders has worked for Macworld Sweden for many years. He writes news, reviews and tutorials related to the Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch.