In a big win for app developers, a US judge has ruled that Apple can no longer control or take a cut from external payment links in apps available on the App Store in the United States.
This decision came from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers as part of the long-running legal fight between Apple and Epic Games, which started over four years ago. While Apple had won a previous ruling, this latest one favors Epic and all developers who don’t want to use Apple’s payment system.
According to the new order:
- Apple can’t charge any fees or commissions for purchases made outside the app.
- Developers are free to add links or buttons that take users to third-party websites for payments.
- Apple can’t control how these links look or where they’re placed.
- Apple also can’t show warning messages to scare users when they click on these links—only a neutral message is allowed.
The ruling comes after Apple’s VP of Finance, Alex Roman, was caught lying in court, and it was revealed that CEO Tim Cook knowingly chose to ignore a previous court order, even though another top Apple executive advised against it.
Apple said in a statement that they “strongly disagree with the decision,” but they will follow the court’s orders and plan to appeal.
Before this ruling, Apple required all in-app purchases to go through its own system, taking up to 30% of the money. Developers were not allowed to even mention alternative payment options. When courts first told Apple to allow outside links, Apple started showing warnings and still charged a 27% fee on those external payments.
Epic Games and Spotify both welcomed this new ruling and said they would be updating their apps to reflect the changes.