App Store Payment Steering Faces U.K. Regulator Push Despite Apple Security Concerns

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has proposed allowing app developers to steer users toward payment options outside Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, a move that would directly cut into the commissions both platforms collect on in-app transactions. The CMA specified that any fees Apple or Google charge developers for enabling this “steering” must stay below existing commission rates and be fair and reasonable, with savings either passed to consumers or reinvested in development.

The regulator is also weighing whether to force Apple to open its NFC technology to third-party developers. Currently, that hardware layer sits behind Apple Pay, and opening it would let developers build their own contactless payment flows inside their apps. For anyone tracking App Store commission disputes across multiple jurisdictions, the NFC angle is the less-discussed lever here, and potentially the more consequential one.

Apple’s Security Argument Returns

Apple’s response follows its standard playbook. A spokesperson told Reuters that directing users away from Apple’s payment infrastructure exposes them to “scams, bait-and-switch tactics, and the circumvention of parental controls,” and said the company would continue making its concerns clear to the CMA. Apple has used similar framing in other markets, where regulators have pressed for financial disclosures as part of competition investigations.

These proposals build on Apple’s designation last year with strategic market status in the U.K., a classification that gives the CMA authority to impose targeted interventions rather than waiting for broader antitrust proceedings. That designation was always going to produce moments like this one.

In February, Apple and Google had already agreed to separate CMA requirements covering app ranking and review transparency, with Apple also committing to make it easier for developers to request access to iOS features. The payment steering proposals go further, touching the revenue model directly. The potential for NFC access to enable third-party payment apps represents a structural shift, not just a policy tweak, in how Apple controls transactions on its own hardware.