On 18 December 2025, Japan's Mobile Software Competition Act came fully into effect. Most people call it the Smartphone Act. It covers four categories of software run by designated providers: operating systems, app stores, browsers and search engines. The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) named Apple Inc., iTunes K.K. and Google LLC as the designated providers. Nearly ten months later, the argument over what the law has actually changed is still running in regulators' offices, in company filings and in the Japanese press.
What Apple changed in iOS
Apple published its Japan-specific changes on 17 December 2025, the day before the law took effect, and tied them to the iOS 26.2 release. Developers can now distribute apps through alternative app marketplaces, but only marketplaces that Apple has authorized. Apps distributed outside the App Store go through a baseline review that Apple calls Notarization. Apple's own release describes that review as less comprehensive than App Review, the process that applies to every app on the App Store. The notarization check combines automated checks with human review and is meant to confirm that apps function as promised and are free of known malware.
Payments changed as well. On the App Store, developers can include an alternative payment processing method in their app, or link users to a website to complete a purchase. Apple says those options always appear alongside its own In-App Purchase. For transactions handled outside Apple's system, Apple also says it will not be able to issue refunds and will have less ability to resolve scams or fraud.
The new fee structure
Apple's revised business terms for Japan set out several different rates. Apps on the App Store pay a 10 percent commission for most developers, or 21 percent on digital goods and services. Developers who use Apple In-App Purchase pay an extra 5 percent payment processing fee. Apps that send users to a linked website for payment pay a 15 percent store services commission, reduced to 10 percent for the developer programs and for subscriptions after their first year. Apps distributed outside the App Store pay a 5 percent Core Technology Commission on the sale of digital goods, including paid apps.
Apple states that developers who sell digital goods in Japan will pay the same or less than they did before. That is Apple's own assessment. Developer groups dispute the wider picture, as described below.
What the regulator required
The JFTC published the first compliance reports on 17 February 2026. Its Secretary General told a regular press conference on 18 February that the reports had been submitted on the date the law took effect. The statement also said the reports "reflect the views of the designated providers and do not represent the views of the JFTC." In other words, the filings are company submissions, not regulator findings.
The commission said it would examine the impact of the reports on business operators in all four software categories. It also published a set of frequently asked questions for application developers, covering what has become possible under the law, and said it would expand that material as it receives feedback. Stakeholders can submit information through a form on the Japanese-language version of the JFTC website.
Child safety rules sit inside Apple's terms as well. Apps in the Kids category on the App Store cannot link to outside websites for transactions. For users under 18, apps that use alternative payments or outside links must include a parental gate that requires a parent or guardian to approve the purchase. For users under 13, App Store apps cannot link to websites for transactions at all. Apple says it is also building an API that lets parents monitor and approve purchases made outside In-App Purchase. The company's release is candid about the trade-off. It warns that apps from outside the App Store may include illicit and objectionable content, and it points to similar rules in Europe that enabled app types previously unavailable on iOS, including pornography apps.
Second round of reports and early market reaction
The JFTC published a second set of Apple and Google compliance reports in late July 2026, according to a Telecompaper report dated 27 July. The report's headline describes the publication; this article does not characterise the contents of the second filings.
Third-party store launches have moved more slowly than supporters of the law expected. According to BigGo Finance, Epic Games opened its iPhone app store in Japan in early May 2026. Only Fortnite and one overseas game were available on launch day, and no Japanese developers had signed up. BigGo's report, which cites the Yomiuri Shimbun, says developers feared Apple retaliation over how their apps are placed in the store. The same report says Epic intends to file a complaint against Apple with the JFTC.
On 27 August 2026, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japanese and international app developer groups accuse Apple and Google of violating the law. MarketWatch carried the story. The publicly visible text of that report is limited to the headline and lead paragraph, so the specific allegations are not detailed in this article.
What comes next
The JFTC has said it will keep working through the compliance reports and will weigh comments from business operators and the public. It has also said it will maintain close communication with Apple and Google while it does so. Whether the current fee structure and store access are judged adequate will depend on that examination. The next round of published reports should show whether the terms have changed in practice, or only on paper.