The court denies Apple’s appeal for an urgent application for a purchase ruling outside the U.S. app store, TechCrunch Report. This means that when a user clicks a link in the app to take it to an external site for purchase, Apple will not be able to charge. “After reviewing the relevant factors, we did not convince the accommodation was appropriate,” the judge said in the lawsuit.
Earlier this year, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple violated her 2021 ruling on EPIC’s lawsuit against Apple. The judge initially ordered Apple to allow developers to direct users to other payment systems to allow them to bypass the App Store’s usual 30% commission. However, Apple still cuts external purchases by 27%, while showing users a “scared screen” warning that they will lose the company’s protection if they pay outside the app store.
As part of the ruling, Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to stop charging external payment fees immediately. She also banned Apple from making rules to prevent developers from providing buttons and external payment links to customers. Apple complied with the order but immediately filed an appeal of emergency holdings against the ruling, so it could resume charges for external app purchases, which has now been denied.
“The long-term nightmare of Apple’s tax is over,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeny wrote on X. “The WWDC next May is a long-deserved Apple-led freelance celebration that developers and users deserve.” Apple has not commented on the matter yet.
Other companies with huge influence on iOS like Amazon and Spotify have grown rapidly to build external payment methods for their apps. Epic itself resubmit Fortnite Go to the App Store but was rejected, calling Apple’s actions “blatant revenge.” However, on May 20, Fortnite finally returned to the App Store in the United States.
