We have made changes to Bolt in light of the May 2025 changes Apple has made to App Store rules in the United States. These updates, prompted by a major court ruling, impact how in-app purchases (IAP) and external payment links can be used in iOS (and iPadOS) apps. Here’s what you need to know about our approach, what’s changing, and what it means for you as our customer.

What’s Changed with Apple’s App Store Rules?

The spring 2025 U.S. court decision requires Apple to let apps direct users in the US to their own websites for purchases, such as subscriptions and digital goods. This means apps can now include clear buttons or links that take users outside the app to complete purchases, bypassing Apple’s payment system and the typical 30% commission.

Apple is also prohibited from displaying “scare screens” or warning messages that discourage users from leaving the App Store to make a purchase. While Apple is appealing the decision, it has already updated its App Store guidelines to comply for now. 

You can read more about the ruling and what it means in the grander scheme of things in our Media Bulletin post.

What We Know and Expect

Our Plan for Supporting You

We’re committed to making some new options available to you quickly, enabling you to take advantage of the changed landscape, should you think it's the right thing for you and your business.

Storefront Awareness: We’ve implemented a system that allows our app to detect which country’s App Store a user is in. This helps us show the right purchasing options to the right users.

Dynamic Paywall Buttons: Depending on the user’s location, we can display one of the following different purchasing buttons, or potentially combinations thereof, on the paywall:

1. Apple IAP
2. External Link Entitlement (ELE)
3. External Link (EL) - US Only

These changes are now available in Bolt 4.9.0, we'll also continue to refine them as we learn more from you and the evolving regulatory environment.

What You Need to Know as Our Customer

No action is required: Your current implementation remains legal and fully supported. You don’t need to make changes unless you want to utilise these new purchasing options.

A fluid situation: The regulatory environment is still shifting. New approaches carry risk of App Store rejection, but we’ll monitor developments closely and keep you informed. Apple have appealed this decision so there is at least a chance it is reversed or deferred and the previous rules reapplied.

More control and information: Unlike ELE you’ll be able to include query strings or access tokens in external purchase links, giving you more control over the resulting user experience

Seamless entitlement: We recommend linking back to the app after completing any purchase. This can be done seamlessly in different ways depending on whether the user is already signed in or not at the point at which they follow the external purchase link. If they are already logged in, access token query parameter injection can be configured (see above) such that the external purchase system can immediately associate the entitlement with the existing account and immediate grant access access to paywalled content when they return to the app. If the user is not already signed in, we recommend that the purchase flow sets a cookie on your auth origin and redirects, or provides the user with a button to redirect them, into the app, and automatically log them in. This works by deeplinking to the app with https://your.domain/c/signin thereby triggering the OAuth flow, which must be set up to use the aforementioned cookie to immediately complete code grant.

Our Commitment

We’re dedicated to helping you navigate these changes smoothly and maximize your revenue opportunities. As the situation evolves, we’ll continue to adapt and keep you updated with clear guidance and technical support.

If you have questions or want to discuss your options, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or support@pugpig.com.