Ryan Elliott and Gabe Roeloffs know Apple's systems intimately. They should—they helped build them. As systems engineers at the company for years, they worked deep in the operating system layer that underpins everything from iPhones to Macs.
Now? They're building something Apple spent the better part of a decade in court trying to stop.
Their startup, ZeroSettle, emerged from Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch with a pitch developers have been waiting for: route app purchases around Apple's payment system entirely. The value proposition is blunt. Instead of surrendering 30% of every in-app purchase to Apple, integrate ZeroSettle's SDK and pay 5%. Or, if you connect your own Stripe account, as little as 0.5%. Integration, they claim, takes 15 minutes.
The timing isn't coincidental. ZeroSettle launched just as a federal judge found Apple in "willful violation" of court orders meant to crack open the App Store's iron grip on payments. That April 30, 2025 ruling finally forced Apple to let developers link users to external payment options in the United States—ending years of legal wrangling that began with Epic Games' antitrust challenge.
Roeloffs hasn't been subtle about the opportunity. His social media posts tout helping developers "dodge the Apple tax," describing the service as "legal in USA" with an almost defiant enthusiasm. Whether Apple sees it the same way remains to be seen.
The Mechanics of Routing Around Apple
Strip away the marketing language and ZeroSettle is fundamentally a subscription revenue platform—one that swaps out Apple's StoreKit (and Google's Play Billing) for web-based checkout. The company operates as what's known as a Merchant of Record, shouldering the operational headaches Apple normally handles: tax compliance across jurisdictions, refunds, receipts, the endless grind of chargebacks, payouts through Stripe Connect.
The SDK is smarter than it looks. It detects a user's country, then decides: direct web billing where legally permissible, or fall back to StoreKit everywhere else. Developers pick from three checkout experiences—a native payment sheet, an in-app browser, or external Safari. Though Apple's enforcement practices appear to be narrowing those options faster than anyone expected.
Configuration mostly happens in ZeroSettle's dashboard. The platform pulls in existing StoreKit products directly from App Store Connect. From there, developers can add web-exclusive discounts, A/B test paywalls, or launch what ZeroSettle calls "Switch & Save" campaigns—efforts to migrate existing subscribers from App Store billing to web payments. Most of this requires no app updates, which is either elegant or slightly unnerving depending on your perspective.
The Math That Matters
ZeroSettle offers two paths, each with its own calculation.
The "Managed" option charges 5% plus $0.50 per transaction. ZeroSettle handles everything—tax filings, compliance, the works. By their math, developers keep roughly $8.50 from a $9.99 sale. Compare that to about $7 under Apple's standard 30% cut, and the appeal is obvious.
Then there's BYOS—Bring Your Own Stripe. Connect your existing Stripe account and ZeroSettle takes just 0.5% of attributed revenue. The company layers on product mapping and entitlement tracking, automatically cutting off access if a refund or dispute surfaces. Under this model, developers would pocket approximately $9.50 from that $9.99 transaction.
Early adopters get a sweeter deal: two years free through the "Founding Partner Program," white-glove installation support, direct Slack access. Limited spots, naturally. It's the startup playbook—lock in customers while the regulatory window stays open.
A Narrow Opening, Maybe Temporary
This product exists because of a shift in what Apple must permit. And "must" is doing heavy lifting here.
After Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers held Apple in contempt for dragging its feet on anti-steering rules, the company revised its U.S. App Store guidelines on May 1, 2025. Developers can now include buttons, links, calls-to-action—anything directing users to external purchases—without special entitlements or Apple's previously attempted 27% commission clawback.
Europe got there first through the Digital Markets Act, which forced Apple to allow in-app browsers and external checkouts, albeit with varying commission structures and the notorious Core Technology Fee lurking for high-volume apps.
Everywhere else? Still off-limits. ZeroSettle's SDK defaults to StoreKit in unsupported regions, which is most of the world.
Even in permitted markets, though, the details remain frustratingly unclear. ZeroSettle's marketing mentions offering a "native payment sheet" in the United States. Yet when Patreon launched web checkout using an in-app browser in May 2025—something that seemed perfectly legal—Apple told them to move it to external Safari instead. Patreon complied, according to TechCrunch. The rules, it seems, are still being written in real time.
Not Exactly Alone
ZeroSettle isn't pioneering virgin territory. The market has filled quickly since April's ruling—perhaps more quickly than the founders expected.
RevenueCat added a "Web Purchase Button" to its SDK in May 2025, then partnered with Paddle the following month to smooth the transition to web payments. Superwall has published early conversion data and integration guides for Stripe Checkout. Paddle, Adapty, Dodo Payments, FastSpring, Lemon Squeezy—all offer some combination of Merchant of Record services and app-to-web checkout capabilities.
ZeroSettle's counter? Simplicity. While competitors pile on analytics dashboards and paywall optimization tools, ZeroSettle positions itself as a direct StoreKit replacement with region-aware policy handling baked in. Clean, focused, engineered. The founders' Apple background likely resonates with developers who've internalized Apple's design philosophy, even as they seek to escape its economics.
But questions linger. Apple has a well-documented history of making initial concessions, then tightening the screws once developers commit. The company continues warning consumers about risks when purchasing outside the App Store—not exactly a vote of confidence. ZeroSettle insists developers won't face app rejection "if done correctly," but what does "correctly" mean at scale? The company's website shows no named customers yet, only an application form for the founding partner program.
The Unsettled Future
The regulatory landscape remains in flux—maybe permanently.
Apple is appealing the court order while simultaneously complying with it, a legal two-step that buys time and preserves options. European regulators keep pressing Apple over Digital Markets Act implementation, unconvinced the company is acting in good faith. What's permitted today could require adjustment tomorrow, or vanish entirely if Apple wins on appeal.
For developers exhausted by handing over 30% of their revenue, ZeroSettle represents a calculated gamble. The SDK is live. The documentation is public. The regulatory opening—however fragile, however temporary—is real.
Whether it stays open is the $50 billion question. Apple didn't build a services empire worth that much by ceding ground easily. Elliott and Roeloffs are betting their former employer blinks first, or at least that enough developers will take the leap before Apple figures out how to close the window again.
That's the thing about narrow openings. They don't stay narrow for long—they either widen or they slam shut.
