One of the first alternative app stores in the EU is shutting down | TechCrunch

"Its model offered consumers access to all of Setapp's mobile apps through a $9.99 monthly subscription, provided the user's Apple ID was associated with an EU member state. Now, the company says all applications will be removed from Setapp Mobile by the end of the sunset date, February 16, 2026. Applications that are available on Setapp Desktop will not be affected, the company told TechCrunch."

"The 'complex business terms' being referenced here are Apple's complicated set of fees for apps operating under its new business terms in the EU, which include a controversial Core Technology Fee that charges developers €0.50 for each first annual install over one million in the past 12 months. The tech giant revised its fee structure last year to avoid further penalties for noncompliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), but instead of simplifying the fees, it made them more complex."

"One of the more prominent alternative app stores that emerged in the EU as a result of the region's Digital Markets Act is shutting down. The store, Setapp Mobile, from the Ukrainian-based developer MacPaw, first launched in September 2024, offering dozens of apps across categories like productivity, finance, video, photo, creativity, and more. Its model offered consumers access to all of Setapp's mobile apps through a $9.99 monthly subscription, provided the user's Apple ID was associated with an EU member state."

Setapp Mobile, an EU-only alternative app store from MacPaw, will remove all mobile applications by the sunset date of February 16, 2026. Launched in September 2024, Setapp Mobile offered dozens of apps via a $9.99 monthly subscription tied to an EU Apple ID. MacPaw cited "still-evolving and complex business terms" as the reason for ending the service. Those terms include Apple's revised EU fee structure and a controversial Core Technology Fee charging €0.50 for each first annual install above one million. Frequent changes to commercial conditions and opaque fees prevented reliable planning and made the alternative store model commercially unviable.

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