Aptoide’s iOS game store launches on Thursday

Aptoide, the popular Google Play alternative for Android devices, is launching a third-party app store for iOS in the European Union – the first focused entirely on games since the EU’s Digital Markets (DMA) rules came into force .

Aptoide’s iOS game store will launch through a closed launch on Thursday, with access initially limited to users with invite-only access codes. Aptoide says it has a waiting list of 20,000 registrations and plans to release between 500 and 1,000 codes per day, with the limited release allowing the platform to monitor feedback from early adopters.

The Aptoide iOS store will launch with seven games — a fairly standard ensemble of popular activities like Solitaire, Charades, and Mahjong — but the company says the store will eventually “feature content from a variety of developers.” Aptoide claims that “over 100” iOS developers have expressed interest in the platform and that 30 offerings are currently in the process of integration.

Unlike Aptoide’s other app markets, the iOS store will focus only on games for now, with the company planning to add new games to the store every week after its launch. Aptoide CEO Paulo Trezentos said threshold that the service may be expanded in the future to provide additional content and services.

Notably, Aptoide is also the first third-party iOS marketplace in Europe to launch with an Apple-approved in-app purchase (IAP) solution, which it will offer to developers via an IAP software development kit.

The company is taking a new approach to offset Apple’s 50 cent base technology fee (CTF) for each annual store install. Rather than passing it on directly to users in the form of a subscription, the cost will be supported by a fee charged to developers for in-app purchases. “This means that IAP-driven apps will be preferred on Aptoide iOS,” says Trezentos. “Hopefully, one day when the CTF is not charged, we will be able to serve more developers as the unit economics change.”

Other alternative iOS app stores that have launched in the EU have created their own ways around CTF. Setapp currently absorbs the fee, but says it will be included in the Setapp Mobile subscription price in the future. AltStore PAL, meanwhile, covers the fee through an annual subscription of €1.50 (plus tax) for installing the app market itself.