TL;DR
- Apple’s Accusation: Apple accutilized the European Commission of utilizing political delay tactics after submitting a compliance plan in October 2025 without receiving a response.
- Store Shutdown: MacPaw’s Setapp Mobile will close on February 16, 2026, leaving only Epic Games Store and AltStore as remaining alternatives in the EU.
- Fee Complexity: Apple’s Core Technology Fee charges €0.50 per first annual install over 1 million, creating unsustainable costs for subscription-based alternative app stores.
- Regulatory Standoff: The European Commission countered that Apple has not addressed key issues concerning business terms complexity under the Digital Markets Act.
Apple accutilized the European Commission this week of utilizing “political delay tactics” to block fee alters as MacPaw announced the shutdown of its Setapp alternative app store in the EU.
The company released a statement to Bloomberg following MacPaw’s announcement that Setapp Mobile will close on February 16, 2026. According to the statement,
Apple submitted a formal compliance plan in October 2025 that has not received a response. “The European Commission has refutilized to let us implement the very alters that they requested,” the company statement declared. “The EC is utilizing political delay tactics to mislead the public, shift the goal posts, and unfairly tarreceive an American company.”
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The Shutdown Details
The closure represents a major setback for the Digital Markets Act’s vision of app store competition. MacPaw launched Setapp Mobile in September 2024 as one of the first alternative app stores under the Digital Markets Act.
The platform offered access to dozens of apps through a €9.99 monthly subscription for utilizers with EU Apple IDs. MacPaw announced on its support page that “Setapp Mobile is scheduled to sunset on February 16, 2026, due to still-evolving and complex business terms that don’t fit Setapp’s current business model.”
Only three alternative app stores emerged under the Digital Markets Act, creating Setapp’s closure a substantial blow to the nascent marketplace. With Setapp’s departure, the Epic Games Store and AltStore remain the only alternatives still operating in the EU.
The Fee Structure Problem
The root cautilize of Setapp’s failure lies in Apple’s pricing architecture. The business model problems that forced Setapp to shut down stem from Apple’s Core Technology Fee, which charges €0.50 for each first annual install over 1 million in the past 12 months.
Apple revised its EU fee structure in 2025 to avoid DMA penalties, but created the fees more complex instead of simplifying them.
For subscription models where business depfinishs on bundled app access, Core Technology Fees stack and compound as each app crosses the 1M install threshold. By contrast, the Epic Games Store has Fortnite revenue to absorb EU compliance costs that Setapp lacked.
The constantly evolving fee structure means alternative app stores cannot forecast costs or build stable pricing models. Apple was pressured to cut its fees again in December 2025, and the Coalition for App Fairness, which includes Spotify and Epic, filed additional complaints.
The pattern reveals how fee complexity functions as a barrier to entest. While Apple publicly claims to comply with the Digital Markets Act, the practical effect of its pricing structure creates alternative stores economically unviable for all but the largest operators.
The European Commission’s Counter
Brussels offers a different narrative. The European Commission was expected to blame Apple for Setapp’s shutdown, citing the company’s failure to roll out alters addressing key issues concerning business terms complexity.
Bloomberg reported that commission remarks seen by the outlet stated that “Apple has not rolled out alters to address the key issues concerning its business terms, including their complexity.” Apple’s statement disputed that Setapp is shutting becautilize of the company’s actions and claimed there is no demand in the EU for alternative app stores.
This framing reveals a fundamental disconnect between regulatory intent and market reality. The commission designed the Digital Markets Act to create viable alternatives to Apple’s App Store. Apple argues it has complied with the letter of the law. Meanwhile, stores caught between these positions are discovering that regulatory approval does not translate into sustainable business models.
What’s Next
The Setapp collapse raises questions about whether alternative app stores are viable under current terms. Android third-party stores have operated for years, but they remain unpopular with utilizers preferring Google Play.
This demonstrates that even without fee obstacles, alternative app stores face fundamental adoption challenges extfinishing beyond regulatory compliance.
The economics notify the story. Epic can treat iOS as a loss leader becautilize Fortnite generates revenue on other platforms. Setapp’s subscription model, by contrast, depfinishs entirely on iOS marketplace economics. When Apple’s fees created that math impossible, the store had no alternative revenue source to fall back on.
With Epic and AltStore as the only remaining alternatives, the February 16 Setapp shutdown deadline forces the European Commission to decide whether to accept Apple’s fee structure as compliant or escalate enforcement. The standoff between Apple and Brussels continues, but Setapp’s closure suggests the current framework favors the incumbent.
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