MacPaw Pulls Plug on Setapp Mobile iOS Store, Citing 'Still-Evolving and Complex Business Terms' for Alternative EU Marketplaces

[MacRumors]

Ukraine-based developer MacPaw is set to close Setapp Mobile, its alternative app store for iOS devices in the European Union, next month.

The service will officially cease operating on February 16, 2026. Setapp Mobile launched in open beta in September 2024.

In a support page, MacPaw said Setapp Mobile is being closed because of app marketplaces' "still-evolving and complex business terms that don't fit Setapp's current business model," suggesting it was not profitable for the company.

For users in the EU who accessed iOS apps through Setapp's subscription store, those apps will be removed from the platform after the shutdown date. Setapp advises users to back up any important data before then, as the apps will no longer be available once the service ends. Setapp's separate subscription-based Mac app store will continue to operate as normal.

MacPaw is not alone in trying its hand in the EU market for alternative app stores, which came in the wake of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that mandates support for third-party app marketplaces on iOS in the EU. There are five other alternative marketplaces available at this time, but the most prominent is the Epic Games Store.

These alternative app marketplaces, as Apple calls them, are a relatively new frontier for app distribution on iOS, but they face hefty challenges, such as navigating Apple's controversial Core Technology Fee, and competing with its established ‌App Store‌ ecosystem.

Epic Games currently pays the Apple fees that EU developers incur when distributing their apps through the ‌Epic Games‌ Store. However, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has said it is "not financially viable" for ‌Epic Games‌ to pay Apple's fees in the long term, but it plans to do so while it waits to see if the European Union requires Apple to further tweak its rules for third-party marketplaces under the DMA.

Sweeney has criticized Apple's Core Technology Fee and app distribution guidelines many times, and has described the fee as "ruinous for any hopes of a competing store getting a foothold." Whether it is the main reason for Setapp Mobile's closure remains unclear.

Article Link: MacPaw Pulls Plug on Setapp Mobile iOS Store, Citing 'Still-Evolving and Complex Business Terms' for Alternative EU Marketplaces

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

This is sad; not because I would have used it, but because the only winner is Apple.

 

[rictus007]

What would be a competitive fee, 0%?

 

[SilmarilFinder]

Apple welcomes competition by making sure it cannot survive.

 

[hugodrax]

Curious how come for Xbox,Playstation no one is fighting to open up an alternative way to buy games?

 

[rumorphobe]

I can’t get over the fact that Tim Sweeney takes a percentage for his own store while criticizing Apple for doing exactly the same thing.

 

[orbital~debris]

Curious how come for Xbox,Playstation no one is fighting to open up an alternative way to buy games?

This is a really good point.

My first thought was perhaps around the size of the respective markets (Apple's App Store vs. Sony and Microsoft's console storefronts), and the attractiveness of them to other operators – but they all must be similar as global digital goods providers, right?

 

[opiapr]

Maybe they just realized that running an app store is harder than it seems.

 

[kwl]

Guessing it’s a feature few consumers actually want.

 

[apparatchik]

Maybe they just realized that running an app store is harder than it seems.

And it's not free. I bet that even with 0% payment to Apple most of these alternative storefronts wouldn't be profitable either due to low demand and high cloud / development costs.

 

[nt5672]

What they need is an "Amazon style" alternative App Store. You know, one that can go for years without generating a profit in order to knock out the competition. Oh, wait, the only competition is Apple. Good luck with that.

 

[headlessmike]

Curious how come for Xbox,Playstation no one is fighting to open up an alternative way to buy games?

I suspect two reasons:

• Smartphones are considered an essential part of modern life, whereas game consoles are not.
• Discs are still an option, at least on paper. Smaller developers will not afford to release a title of physical formats, and many consoles are sold without a disc drive, but it is at least a possibility.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Champagne popping in Cupertino as they see proof that the system works.

I know this argument just goes around in circles whenever anyone replies, but just imagine if Microsoft had this policy.

We never would have had Steam and god knows how much other software if Microsoft insisted on not only taking a cut of everything but also applying a ton of arbitrary protectionist policies regarding content.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Curious how come for Xbox,Playstation no one is fighting to open up an alternative way to buy games?

Because for the jillionth time a smartphone is not a game console. And even moreso, a proper computer is not a game console. And this only goes one direction if we let Apple successfully retcon history so that no one remembers computers are supposed to be able to run code without the explicit approval of the platform creator. Right down to arbitrary protectionist policies that have absolutely nothing to do with the software itself.

Also, the fact that there is a more open PC platform takes a lot of that philosophical pressure off the game consoles. Game consoles have one purpose, to run games. There's an economic argument about distribution costs and such there, but this is bigger than that. This isn't just about games, it's about all software.

 

[Big_D]

Curious how come for Xbox,Playstation no one is fighting to open up an alternative way to buy games?

It is too niche, with a few tens of millions of users, compared to the billion plus on Android and iOS, plus the Xbox and Playstation are sold at or below cost, so the vig on the game sales is where they make their profit. If Apple and Android devices were sold below cost and the app stores used to make them profitable, I don't think there would be such a stink.

I really don't understand Apple's and Google's malicious compliance over this, if they had quietly let Epic do this at the beginning, hardly anyone would have noticed, even if they had allowed other stores in for a 3-5% cut, I don't think anyone would have complained and 95% of users would probably never have noticed or not wanted to try the waters outside the official app stores.

But Apple and Google went out and bought the biggest Streisand spotlights they could find and shined them on themselves...

I have no problem with people wanting to use external stores, but I would probably never use them; I haven't been tempted to try one yet. I know a lot of people who struggle to use the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, there is no way you'd get them to willingly use an external store on top, so I don't think it would have affected Apple and Google much, if they had just silently let it happen.

Even the "official" 3rd party stores, like Huawei, back when I was on Android and used their phones, or the Samsung store, I never used either, I still just used the Play Store.

 

[Delivered]

All the Apple News the past few months has been bad to horrible. This is not a big deal on its own but put together with the rest of the narrative it feels like is rudderless. Now they’re alienating developers that made their product’s compelling. As if they know what’s best I mean Apple failed so badly working so hard at AI (which they didn’t need to do) that they ended end up giving in and embedding Google AI into their systems their chief competitor now has its brains going inside iOS. All of this makes me start wondering if it’s the right time to move on and try a using a different phone. Maybe grapheneos or something with 0 AI nonsense integrated. It’s starting to annoy me.

Heck if Apple silicon wasn’t so far ahead I’d be considering going back to Linux. Windows is super convoluted annoying and their OS is starting to feel like the web pages you click out of right away bc they’re 70% ads. MacOS isn’t there but I feel like Tahoe is a bit more messy looking and fatiguing. Or I’m getting old! But Linux isn’t doing the over fancy complex UIs by default (u can make one). It’s the same simple easy to understand system and bc they’re not beholden to business or
Marketing they don’t change things for no reason.

All these devices now do so much on their own you can’t even track it. I miss when tech did only what you instructed nothing more. I don’t feel in control of my tech any more I feel like it’s handling me.

Or maybe this is all fine and I’m just cynical and not as excited about tech as I used to be.

 

[I7guy]

Blame the EU for the confusing set of regulations that now in hindsight are a moving target.

Maybe with this Apple is getting into the groove of how to successful navigate regulations that strip control of their own assets.

 

[Big_D]

Maybe they just realized that running an app store is harder than it seems.

It is when you are trying to set it up and Google and Apple are clubbing you constantly over the head with baseball bats... If they were allowed to run the store as a store, it would be fine, but they aren't allowed to sell what they like, they have to pay Apple and Google "protection money" to run the store and they have to pay them a vig for each sale on top of that.

 

[I7guy]

All the Apple News the past few months has been bad to horrible. This is not a big deal on its own but put together with the rest of the narrative it feels like is rudderless. Now they’re alienating developers that made their product’s compelling. As if they know what’s best I mean Apple failed so badly working so hard at AI (which they didn’t need to do) that they ended end up giving in and embedding Google AI into their systems their chief competitor now has its brains going inside iOS. All of this makes me start wondering if it’s the right time to move on and try a using a different phone. Maybe grapheneos or something with 0 AI nonsense integrated. It’s starting to annoy me.

Heck if Apple silicon wasn’t so far ahead I’d be considering going back to Linux. Windows is super convoluted annoying and their OS is starting to feel like the web pages you click out of right away bc they’re 70% ads. MacOS isn’t there but I feel like Tahoe is a bit more messy looking and fatiguing. Or I’m getting old! But Linux isn’t doing the over fancy complex UIs by default (u can make one). It’s the same simple easy to understand system and bc they’re not beholden to business or
Marketing they don’t change things for no reason.

All these devices now do so much on their own you can’t even track it. I miss when tech did only what you instructed nothing more. I don’t feel in control of my tech any more I feel like it’s handling me.

Or maybe this is all fine and I’m just cynical and not as excited about tech as I used to be.

It never is the wrong time to try out new tech. Nobody is tied to the Apple ecosystem.

 

[I7guy]

It is when you are trying to set it up and Google and Apple are clubbing you constantly over the head with baseball bats... If they were allowed to run the store as a store, it would be fine, but they aren't allowed to sell what they like, they have to pay Apple and Google "protection money" to run the store and they have to pay them a vig for each sale on top of that.

They are essentially paying Apple to compete in a space that was wrested away from them by regulation. I have no tears for these alternative stores.

 

[mblm85]

Losing all your purchased apps through that store is an interesting sting in the tail.

I bet not many purchasers will have thought of that.

Who would risk spending money with an alt app store now?!

 

[rappr]

Or maybe this is all fine and I’m just cynical and not as excited about tech as I used to be.

I think we’re all a bit less idealistic about tech companies than we used to be.

 

[appleuser21]

I have Setapp installed and I never use it.

Apple has designed the third-party app marketplaces to fail and this is a big win for them.

 

[Plutonius]

The EU will use this as evidence that Apple is continuing in doing something shady.

The EU will then reluctantly be forced to give Apple some more fines /S 🙂.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Maybe they should build their own platform