Today, Apple announced upcoming changes to App Store pricing and developer proceeds. New tax adjustments will take effect immediately in Brazil, and additional pricing updates will roll out in multiple regions over the next few months.
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If you closely follow Apple’s inner workings (and since you’re here, I’m guessing you do), you know Phil Schiller has always been known for his unrelenting and fierce protectiveness of Apple and the App Store.
This is why perhaps the most surprising aspect of Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s recent scathing order to Apple in the Epic Games case was how Schiller emerged as the uncompromising good cop within the circular walls of Apple Park.
But here’s the thing: outwardly, Schiller is still Schiller.
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Update May 16, 2025, 8:36 a.m. PT: Apple tells Bloomberg that it did not take action to block Epic Games from releasing its Fortnite update in the European Union. Instead, the company asked it to resubmit the EU update without including the US to avoid impacting other regions.
There’s still no word on the status of Epic’s attempt to bring Fortnite back to the App Store in the US.
Last week, Epic Games announced that it had submitted Fortnite to the App Store in the United States. The move followed an injunction in which a federal judge said Apple couldn’t charge a 27% commission on out-of-app purchases initiated through in-app links.
In a new statement today, however, Epic says that Apple has “blocked” this submission…
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Update:
This message has been live in the App Store since the beginning of Apple’s DMA compliance efforts in March 2024.
In August 2024, Apple announced multiple changes to its compliance plan – including a change to the disclosure message that appears in the App Store for apps that do not use Apple’s In-App Purchase system. Apple proposed updating the disclosure to read:
Transactions in this app are supported by the developer and not Apple.
Learn more
The proposal also changed the design of the disclosure message, replacing the bright red “!” icon with a less aggressive gray “i” icon, as you can see below.
Apple tells 9to5Mac it was ready to implement the changes and that the EU took no issue with the updated disclosure sheet. According to Apple, however, the EU requested the company not implement the changes at that time and never followed up with further guidance. It then fined Apple $500 million for noncompliance last month.
Apple’s comments today align with a report from Politico last week, which said Apple tried addressing the EU’s concerns last summer but was stonewalled.
Here’s the updated disclosure sheet proposed by Apple:
Original story below.
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Epic Games submitted Fortnite to the App Store for review on Friday. Now what? The version under review offers both Apple’s in-app purchase system and an external payment option via the Epic Games Store. But despite recent policy changes forced by a federal injunction, Apple isn’t legally required to approve the app. Still, rejecting Fortnite could deal Apple a blow in the court of public opinion, especially as its standing with developers continues to slip.
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Update: Epic Games says it has submitted Fortnite to the U.S. App Store for review. The ball is now in Apple’s court to approve the app submission.
If Fortnite does return to the U.S. App Store this week, it won’t be before Friday. That’s according to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who shared an update on the long-awaited comeback today.
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Apple has asked the U.S. District Court in Northern California to pause the enforcement of new App Store rules following its recent loss to Epic Games.
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While some companies, including Spotify, Amazon, and Patreon, have been quick to jump at the opportunity to add external payment links to their apps, Netflix is taking a slower approach.
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Epic Games‘ five year legal battle against Apple has cost the developer well over $100M in legal fees alone, and CEO Tim Sweeney says that the total cost has been north of a billion dollars.
While Sweeney thinks it was worth it, one high-profile Apple commenter has his doubts – suggesting the legal victory doesn’t necessarily mean Fortnite will be allowed back into the App Store …
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Patreon has released an updated version of its iOS app that allows fans in the U.S. to bypass Apple’s in-app payment system when signing up for new memberships, effectively sidestepping the 30% App Store commission.
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A Florida congresswoman has introduced a new bill targeting Apple, aiming to boost competition and expand consumer choice by mandating third-party marketplaces like the EU.
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The hits keep coming for Apple and its App Store policies. A new class-action lawsuit filed today alleges that Apple “penalized developers who sought to use linked payments with fees that rendered it economically non-viable.
The lawsuit follows an injunction handed down last week, in which Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers barred Apple from charging commission or otherwise interfering with developers’ ability to direct customers to payment methods outside of the App Store.
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Last week, Apple was handed a court decision in its Epic Games case that forced a major App Store rule change, and now the company has filed its notice of appeal.
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Apple has officially approved the first app with links to external payment options in the United States. After submitting its update to Apple yesterday afternoon, Spotify says that Apple has approved a new version of the app that takes advantage of the latest changes to the App Store Guidelines.
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Apple has officially updated the App Store Guidelines to comply with the injunction handed down yesterday in its legal case with Epic Games. According to the new App Store rules, “there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action” in the United States.
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Despite Apple reversing its stance on console emulators in the App Store a year ago, GameCube and Wii emulators have largely remained absent from the iPhone and iPad — until now, perhaps.
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Less than 24 hours after Apple’s legal defeat over its App Store model, Epic Games is wasting no time. For starters, Fortnite is set to return to the iOS App Store in the U.S. next week. Under the court’s order, Apple can no longer block apps from directing users to the web to purchase digital content. I’s also barred from collecting a 27% commission on those web-based sales that originate from App Store apps.
Meanwhile, Epic Games has announced two new business moves — one of which takes direct aim at Apple’s in-app purchase revenue model.
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When the US Supreme Court upheld the court ruling in the Apple vs Epic Games case, I said that the iPhone maker’s response was clearly made in bad faith, and was effectively giving the middle finger to the judge in the case.
The judge has now officially confirmed this view. She has not only directly called out Apple for ignoring her ruling, but said that a senior Apple exec lied under oath, and referred the matter for prosecution …
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One more thing about Apple’s App Store loss to Epic Games: the timing of the court’s decision couldn’t be more pointed.
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Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney has announced that the company will submit Fortnite to the iOS App Store in the U.S. next week. The move follows a court decision that ruled against Apple’s App Store practices. However, Fortnite’s return isn’t a sure thing yet…
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The latest twist in the long-running legal fight between Apple and Epic Games has delivered a major blow to the company’s App Store operations. In a ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in willful violation of a 2021 injunction designed to stop the company’s anticompetitive App Store practices.
According to the 80-page order, Apple “thwarted the injunction’s goals” by imposing new fees and obstacles that continued to stifle competition, despite clear instructions from the court. The judge didn’t just sanction Apple — she referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for possible criminal contempt proceedings.
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Apple was yesterday fined €500M ($570M) by the EU for its App Store policies. Apple has now responded, stating that it is being unfairly targeted, with the White House also weighing in to describe fines levied against Apple and Meta as “extortion.”
Update: While there had earlier appeared some softenting in position on both sides of the antitrust dispute, Apple has now told us that it will appeal the ruling – see the end of the piece …
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Apple has today received a 500 million euro fine (about $570 million) from the EU commission under the Digital Markets Act. The commission said the fine relates to Apple’s App Store anti-steering policies. It is being forced to make changes, or else face further fines.
The DMA requires that app developers should be able to inform customers of alternative purchasing options outside of the App Store, and direct customers to those alternative payment options, free of charge. Apple’s rules currently do not allow for this …
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Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has turned up the dial to 11 on his anti-Apple rhetoric, calling the iPhone maker a “gangster-style business” which has concluded that “crime pays.”
He said that both Apple and Google are guilty of the same practices, including using scare tactics to make iPhone and Android users afraid to install the Epic Games Store …
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