AltStore PAL Drops Its Annual Subscription Thanks To a Grant From Epic

AltStore PAL, a third-party iOS app store available in the EU, has eliminated its annual 1.50-euro subscription fee after receiving a 'MegaGrant' from Epic Games. This grant was awarded for 'innovation in app distribution,' allowing AltStore to cover Apple's Core Technology Fee without charging users. The Verge reports: Epic uses MegaGrants as a way to 'sponsor the development of exciting projects that may not otherwise have enough funding to fully realize,' the company says. The grants are typically meant for smaller teams using Epic's technologies to 'bring bold, challenging, and insanely creative dreams to life,' but in this case, Epic awarded the grant for 'innovation in app distribution,' according to AltStore. AltStore didn't share the dollar value of the grant.

Current subscribers won't be charged when their renewal date rolls around, AltStore says. The AltStore team also plans to 'show our appreciation for our existing subscribers in a future update' but didn't specify what that might look like.

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