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Apple was ordered on April 30, 2025, to stop restricting how developers direct customers to payment options outside the App Store. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also found Apple in civil contempt for violating an earlier anti-steering injunction. Apple said it would comply immediately while appealing the ruling.
The decision affected payment links and consumer choice—not a general right to install apps outside Apple’s App Store. The Ninth Circuit later upheld the contempt finding but sent the question of a possible cost-based commission back to the district court. The Supreme Court docket reflected further activity as of the August 16, 2026 research cutoff.
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The short version
- Developers covered by the U.S. injunction can direct users to external purchasing options without Apple’s former anti-steering restrictions.
- Apple’s April 2025 order barred the company from charging a commission or fee on purchases completed outside an app.
- The order did not require every app to support external payments and did not create general sideloading rights.
- Apple complied while continuing to challenge the ruling through appeals.
- The Ninth Circuit later upheld the contempt finding but allowed Apple to argue for a commission tied to its actual costs.
What the original court order required
The dispute began after Epic Games added an alternative payment option to Fortnite on August 13, 2020. Apple removed the game from the App Store, and Epic sued over Apple’s distribution and payment rules.
In September 2021, the district court issued an anti-steering injunction. It prohibited Apple from preventing developers from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action directing customers to purchasing mechanisms outside Apple’s in-app payment system.
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The injunction was narrower than a broad restructuring of the App Store. It did not generally require Apple to permit alternative app stores on iPhone or iPad. It also did not eliminate Apple’s requirement that many digital goods use Apple’s in-app payment system. The relevant relief concerned the U.S. iOS and iPadOS App Store storefronts.
Epic did not win all of its claims. The 2021 ruling largely favored Apple on Epic’s broader antitrust allegations, while finding Apple’s anti-steering provisions unlawful under California’s unfair-competition law. Apple’s filing describing the litigation is available through the SEC.
Apple’s January 2024 compliance plan
After the injunction took effect, Apple introduced a framework that allowed external payment links but placed conditions on their use. For certain purchases made after a customer followed a link, Apple applied a commission as high as 27%. It also imposed requirements concerning the link’s appearance, placement, wording, and user flow.
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That distinction became central to the contempt proceedings: the question was not simply whether Apple had added a technical path to an outside website, but whether Apple’s conditions continued to obstruct meaningful consumer choice.
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Why the judge found Apple in contempt
On April 30, 2025, Judge Rogers concluded that Apple’s implementation violated the anti-steering injunction and held the company in civil contempt. The court found that Apple’s 27% commission could deter developers from offering external payment links. It also concluded that restrictions on the links’ presentation and user direction continued to impede the choice the injunction was intended to protect.
The finding involved the court’s conclusion that Apple knowingly violated the order, rather than merely adopting rules that were unclear. Apple disputed that its framework breached the injunction and argued that the district court’s remedy was legally overbroad. The details of the order are summarized in Apple’s later SEC filing and the Ninth Circuit opinion.
What Apple was ordered to change
The April 2025 order required Apple to comply immediately. In practical terms, Apple could not:
- Impose a commission or fee on purchases completed outside an app under the prohibited framework.
- Restrict, condition, limit, or prohibit how developers guided consumers to external purchasing options.
- Interfere with a consumer’s choice to complete a purchase inside or outside an app.
This did not mean that every developer had to add an outside payment option. A developer could continue using Apple’s payment system, or decide whether an external web purchase made sense for its business, subject to applicable App Store rules, contracts, and laws.
What Apple meant by “comply and appeal”
Apple’s position was effectively that it would implement the order while seeking review from higher courts. That statement was not an admission that Apple had acted unlawfully or that it accepted the judge’s interpretation.
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These are separate concepts:
- Compliance: Apple had to follow the order while it remained in force.
- Appeal: Apple could ask a higher court to reverse or modify the contempt finding and the remedy.
- Stay: Apple would need separate relief to suspend the order during an appeal. Filing an appeal alone did not automatically cancel the obligation to comply.
Apple argued that the original injunction was narrower than the district court’s new remedy and that the court had exceeded its authority. Apple’s later Supreme Court petition sets out those arguments.
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What happened in the Ninth Circuit
The Ninth Circuit’s December 11, 2025 decision produced a mixed result. It upheld the district court’s contempt finding and agreed that Apple’s restrictions on link design and user direction violated the injunction.
However, the appellate court limited the treatment of commissions. Rather than categorically prohibiting every possible commission, it allowed Apple to argue for a charge tied to its actual costs and sent that question back to the district court.
That means the legal outcome cannot accurately be summarized as either “Apple lost everything” or “Apple won on appeal.” The contempt finding survived, but the eventual commission question remained subject to further proceedings. A commission allowed under this theory would not necessarily be the same as Apple’s former 27% charge.
Supreme Court status
Apple subsequently sought Supreme Court review of the contempt and injunction issues. As of the August 16, 2026 research cutoff, the Supreme Court docket for case No. 25-1311 showed briefing activity in 2026. The live docket should be checked for any later orders or changes in status.
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This later petition is distinct from the Supreme Court’s earlier handling of the original Epic-Apple appeals in 2023 and 2024. The earlier proceedings allowed the original anti-steering injunction to take effect; the later proceedings concern the contempt ruling and the scope of the remedy imposed after Apple’s 2024 compliance plan.
What the ruling means for developers
For developers operating in the relevant U.S. storefronts, the order may make it easier to tell customers about web-based subscriptions or purchases and link them to an external checkout. But it does not automatically make every third-party payment system available inside an app.
Developers should distinguish between a link that sends a customer to a web purchase and an alternative payment flow embedded directly in the app. They also remain responsible for issues that Apple’s payment system may otherwise help manage, including:
- Pricing, taxes, and sales-tax collection.
- Fraud prevention and payment security.
- Refunds, cancellations, and subscription management.
- Account creation, authentication, and purchase restoration.
- Customer support and compliance with consumer-protection laws.
A developer should verify Apple’s current developer terms and App Review Guidelines before changing an app’s payment flow. The litigation and Apple’s policies may continue to change, and the economics depend on the final commission rules and operative order.
What the ruling means for consumers
Consumers may see more visible links to web-based subscriptions or purchases. External competition could result in lower prices if developers pass along savings from avoiding Apple’s payment commission, but lower prices are not guaranteed. Developers might instead retain the savings, use them to cover payment and support costs, or keep prices identical across channels.
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External checkout can also mean trade-offs. A web purchase may not offer Apple-managed refunds, Family Sharing, purchase restoration, parental controls, or subscription management in the same way as an App Store transaction. Customers may encounter different prices or terms outside the app.
External links create additional phishing and impersonation risks. Consumers should check the domain carefully, avoid entering payment details on suspicious pages, and confirm subscription terms before paying.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| August 13, 2020 | Epic added an alternative payment option to Fortnite; Apple removed the app from the App Store. |
| September 10, 2021 | The district court issued the original anti-steering injunction. |
| January 16, 2024 | Apple implemented its compliance plan after the injunction took effect. |
| April 30, 2025 | The district court found Apple in violation and civil contempt and ordered immediate compliance. |
| December 11, 2025 | The Ninth Circuit upheld the contempt finding and remanded the commission question. |
| March–June 2026 | Apple pursued additional appellate and Supreme Court relief; Supreme Court docket activity continued. |
| August 16, 2026 | Research cutoff for the procedural status described here. |
What this case does—and does not—change
This case concerns anti-steering: whether Apple can stop developers from informing customers about and directing them to outside purchasing options. It is not the same as sideloading, third-party app stores, or a worldwide requirement to permit alternative payment systems.
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The clearest summary is procedural: Apple had to change its U.S. App Store rules immediately, but it continued contesting the legal basis and scope of the order. The contempt finding survived the Ninth Circuit review, while the question of whether Apple could charge a narrower, cost-based commission remained unresolved in the proceedings described at the cutoff.
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