Apple to allow third-party app stores in Brazil to settle iOS case

Apple will allow third-party app stores and payment methods on its iOS platform in Brazil as part of a settlement with the country’s antitrust regulator, CADE.

The agreement ends a three-year investigation that began after MercadoLibre, a Uruguay-based ecommerce firm operating across Latin America, complained about Apple’s restrictions on digital goods and in-app purchases.

CADE’s internal panel approved Apple’s proposal, which also requires the company to permit links to external websites for transactions.

Apple has 105 days to implement these changes and must comply for three years once the new rules take effect for developers.

CADE said Apple could face a penalty of up to 150 million reais (US$27.1 million) if it fails to meet the terms.

Apple will also drop a lawsuit it filed challenging CADE’s earlier preventive measures from 2024.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), the antitrust regulator, requires Apple to allow external payment links in apps with neutral and objective security warnings 1. Controls cannot add hurdles that slow the experience 1.
The settlement lets external links and alternative payments sit next to the App Store system, and sets a fee framework 1. Final commission rates will appear after approval. Apple added extra commissions in other markets 1.
CADE’s tribunal unanimously backed the superintendent general’s interim order and set a 90-day deadline 2. The rapporteur (the case’s reporting commissioner) raised alleged illegality of a tie-in tied to Apple’s 30% in-app fee, a competition-law concept where use of one product is conditioned on buying another 2.

Brazilian fintechs (financial technology companies) and payment gateways (providers that route online payments for merchants) can build Apple-compliant external checkouts for PIX (Brazil’s instant-payments system run by the Central Bank) 3. PIX handles 40% of a $346 billion market with 53% growth, and charges about 0.33% versus 2–5% for cards 3.
About 80% of Brazilian e-commerce orders use installments, and merchants that add PIX see 18% higher checkout completion rates 3. The 2025–2027 window matters before PIX Automático (Pix’s automatic recurring payments capability) matures and providers lock in infrastructure 3.
Alternative app store operators (third-party app marketplaces) entering Brazil should prioritize fraud prevention beyond generic tools 3. Card chargebacks run about 3.5% with roughly $700 million in 2023 fraud losses, and PIX has no chargebacks 3.