Apple on Wednesday announced an updated developer license agreement that gives the company permission to recoup unpaid funds, such as fees and other fees, by deducting them from in-app purchases it processes on behalf of developers.
This change affects developers in regions where local law allows linking to external payment systems. In such cases, developers must report those payments to Apple in order to pay any required commissions or fees.
The revised agreement appears to give Apple a way to collect fees it deems correct if the company determines that a developer is underreporting their revenue.
Apple’s policies in this area are complex, but the changes could impact developers in markets such as the EU, the US, and now Japan, and developers who use external payment systems may be required to pay Apple various fees and charges depending on local laws. (In the US, the legality of these fees remains in dispute; a federal appeals court earlier this month ruled that a district court should consider allowing Apple to collect some, but not the full 27%, fee it had previously charged.)
In the new developer agreement, Apple says it will “offset or recover” any amounts it believes are owed, including “any amounts Apple collects from end users on your behalf.” This means Apple can recover funds from developers’ in-app purchases, such as digital goods, services, subscriptions, or one-time fees for paid applications.
Additionally, Apple says it has the right to reclaim this money “at any time” and “from time to time.” This means that if Apple determines that the developer miscalculated the amount owed, the developer could face a surprising reduction.
The agreement does not specify how Apple will determine whether it is obligated to pay.
There are limited types of developer payments that change over time and include fees, commissions, and taxes. These include the EU Core Technology Fee (CTF), which currently costs €0.50 for every first annual installation over 1 million in the past 12 months. In January 2026, Apple will transition from CTF to a new fee called Core Technology Commission (CTC), which is a more complex percentage-based fee. Apple collects CTC from apps that use external payment methods or are distributed under the Alternative Trading Terms for the EU.
The updated developer agreement also gives Apple the right to collect unpaid amounts from any “affiliate, parent, or subsidiary” associated with the account that owes money. In practical terms, this means that Apple can collect funds from the developer’s other apps and from apps published by its parent company.
These changes are detailed in Section 3.4 of Schedules 2 and 3, which focus on the delivery of applications to end users.
This is not the only change to the contract. Apple is also introducing a section dedicated to age guarantee technology, new terminology for iOS apps in Japan, and other requirements.
What’s interesting is that Apple defines requirements for voice-based assistants (such as AI chatbots) that are activated by the iPhone’s side button, and prohibits recordings that occur without the user’s knowledge. This includes audio and video recordings, as well as screen recordings. These are often used by developers to identify problems or find bugs that users face when interacting with their apps.
To be clear, Apple does not completely ban these recordings. The company only added language: “Your application may not be designed to facilitate the recording of others without their knowledge.” It remains to be seen how Apple will interpret this rule.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
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