Apple opens Brazil iPhone sideloading after CADE deal

Apple said Brazilian iPhone users will be able to install alternative app marketplaces and use new payment options after an agreement with competition regulator Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica, or CADE, adding another front to the fight over the company’s App Store rules.

Under the Brazil agreement, one regulator has set out what Apple must open on iOS without forcing a worldwide rollout. Developers can begin using the terms in iOS 26.5 from 18 June 2026, the company said. For digitalblog readers, this is not an Australia policy shift. More broadly, it puts Brazil beside Europe in pressing Apple for extra distribution paths, payment choice and closer scrutiny of the fees that remain.

Apple’s announcement tied the move to its agreement with CADE. According to the company, the package covers marketplace distribution, external offers and alternative payment methods for digital goods and services sold through iOS apps.

User settings are part of the change, not just developer paperwork. The dispute now reaches which marketplace can sit on the iPhone and which checkout path developers can point users towards.

9to5Mac reported that AltStore PAL is already live in Brazil, making it one of the first alternative marketplaces available under the new terms.

“Brazilian users can officially install AltStore PAL on their iPhones, and even set it as their default marketplace under Settings > Apps > App Installation.”
Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

That default-marketplace setting gives the policy story a direct product effect. Brazilian users can install a rival storefront rather than treating the App Store as the only place to get iPhone software. Apps can also direct users to developer websites to complete purchases, download alternative builds and use other payment flows where the new terms allow it, Apple said.

What changes in practice

Commercial terms remain central. Brazil developers selling digital goods and services under the new model will face a reduced App Store commission of 10% or 21%, depending on the programme used, Apple said. Apps distributed outside the App Store will carry a 5% payment-processing fee and a Core Technology Commission. Transactions that start in an App Store app and finish on a linked website will still attract a store-services commission of 15%, or 10% for some developers.

So the concession is broader than a cosmetic rules rewrite, but it is not a zero-fee regime. Rival marketplaces may reach iPhone users more directly. Developers still have to weigh Apple’s remaining charges against the value of staying inside its system. Gadgets 360 reported that Epic remains on track to launch the Epic Games Store on iPhones in Brazil in the coming months, an early test of whether the new economics work for large developers.

Brazil is also a separate front in Apple’s wider regulatory fight. Europe has already forced changes under the Digital Markets Act, and digitalblog recently tracked Apple’s first Italian DMA probe over iCloud interoperability. Nothing in the CADE deal announces an Australia change, and Apple did not present the Brazil package as a template for every country.

Australian developers and policy watchers are more likely to read it as precedent than as an imminent local switch. Brazil now joins the jurisdictions testing whether Apple can be made to separate iPhone access from full App Store control.

Choice is only one half of the shift. The new system will matter only if alternative marketplaces, major developers and payment providers decide the economics work. CADE can open that path. It cannot make companies use it.