Epic Says It Has Proof Apple Was Scaring Users Off Third-Party App Stores

This will come as no surprise to anyone who's looked closely at analytics, the elaborate 15-step process Apple invented reverse-optimized the funnel to maximize the attrition rate, swapping to a 6-step process doubled the success rate.

Epic's data resembles Phil Schiller's testimony in the Epic trial earlier this year, where he testified Tim Cook was personally involved in similar optimizations that were ruled to be in criminal contempt of their 2021 court order -

> In one model, for example, Apple worked to determine how the “less seamless experience” of using a non-IAP method would lead customers to abandon their transactions. By modeling where this tipping point was, Apple was able to determine when the links would stop being an advantage to developers, which would push them back to using IAP.

> Apple also found that more restrictive rules around the placement and formatting of the links themselves could reduce the number of apps that decided to implement these outside links. The company looked into the financial impact of excluding some other partners — like those in its video and news programs — from the new program.

> Lawyers suggested Cook himself was involved with how the warning to App Store customers would appear, recommending an update to the text that appears when the external links were clicked. In one version, that link warned customers they were “no longer transacting with Apple.” Later, the link was updated to subtly suggest there could be privacy or security risks with purchases made on the web.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/24/apple-exec-phil-schiller-t...