Ukraine-based developer MacPaw is about to shut Setapp Cellular, its different app retailer for iOS gadgets within the European Union, subsequent month.
The service will formally stop working on February 16, 2026. Setapp Cellular launched in open beta in September 2024.
In a assist web page, MacPaw mentioned Setapp Cellular is being closed due to Apple’s “still-evolving and sophisticated enterprise phrases that do not match Setapp’s present enterprise mannequin,” suggesting it was not worthwhile for the corporate.
For customers within the EU who accessed iOS apps by means of Setapp’s subscription retailer, these apps will probably be faraway from the platform after the shutdown date. Setapp advises customers to again up any necessary information earlier than then, because the apps will not be out there as soon as the service ends. Setapp’s separate subscription-based Mac app retailer will proceed to function as regular.
MacPaw isn’t alone in attempting its hand within the EU marketplace for different app shops, which got here within the wake of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that mandates assist for third-party app marketplaces on iOS within the EU. There are a handful of different marketplaces, however probably the most outstanding is the Epic Video games Retailer.
These different app marketplaces, as Apple calls them, are a comparatively new frontier for app distribution on iOS, however they face hefty challenges, equivalent to navigating Apple’s controversial Core Expertise Charge and competing with its established App Retailer ecosystem.
Epic Video games at present pays the Apple charges that EU builders incur when distributing their apps by means of the Epic Video games Retailer. Nonetheless, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has mentioned it’s “not financially viable” for Epic Video games to pay Apple’s charges in the long run, however it plans to take action whereas it waits to see if the European Union requires Apple to additional tweak its guidelines for third-party marketplaces underneath the DMA.
Sweeney has criticized Apple’s Core Expertise Charge and app distribution tips many occasions, and has described the payment as “ruinous for any hopes of a competing retailer getting a foothold.” In that regard, Setapp Cellular could properly have been its first main sufferer.