Apple Appeals Court-Mandated App Store Payment Rule Changes

As promised, Apple is appealing the contempt of court decision it was hit with last week in its ongoing legal fight with Epic Games. Apple today filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. District Court in Northern California, in the hopes that the Cupertino company might be able to walk back changes that have required it to allow developers to add links to external payment methods to apps.

iOS App Store General Feature Desaturated
Last Wednesday, Apple was handed a scathing order to immediately walk back all of its anti-steering policies in the United States. Apple was found to be in violation of a 2021 injunction that required it to let developers direct customers to third-party purchase options outside of apps.

The order initially came from the Apple vs. ‌Epic Games‌ lawsuit that primarily went in Apple's favor. Apple was found not to have a monopoly and largely won the case, but part of the ruling forced Apple to change some of its App Store rules. Apple did make updates, but it only allowed developers a single link to an external website in apps, and Apple also collected a 12 to 27 percent fee from purchases made on a website through an app.

The judge was not at all happy with how Apple decided to comply with the order, and in her ruling, she said that Apple picked the most anticompetitive option at every turn. As a result, she provided Apple with a detailed list of tweaks to make, and ordered Apple to implement them immediately. "Apple's continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated," read the order.

Apple changed its App Store rules last Thursday. Apple cannot prevent developers from adding links or buttons that direct customers to make purchases outside of the ‌App Store‌, nor can it dictate how those buttons or links look. Apple also can't collect any fees for purchases made using external links in apps.

In a statement, Apple said that it strongly disagrees with the decision, but Apple was not able to hold off on implementing the new rules during the appeals process, so U.S. developers are able to direct customers to websites to make purchases as of now.

Spotify, Patreon, and others have already submitted app updates with links to make purchases on the web.

Except for confirming Apple's plan to appeal, the notice contains little info, so it's not yet clear what arguments Apple will present to try to convince the appeals court that the judge overseeing the case made a mistake. Apple will need to submit a brief with its legal argument, then ‌Epic Games‌ will have a chance to respond, after which Apple will be able to file a second brief. There could also be oral arguments, so we are looking at several more months before a final decision is made.

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Top Rated Comments

vertsix Avatar
10 weeks ago
Can't wait for the appeal to be denied!
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chungry Avatar
10 weeks ago

Can't wait for the appeal to be denied!
The sad thing is they basically won the first case but couldn't get out of their own greedy way and brought this down on themselves. If they'd complied in good faith for that one point they could've basically dictated the terms and they wouldn't be doing a hail Mary for the appeal. I doubt it will be successfully appealed and as a shareholder I'm irritated they couldn't listen to a voice of reason like Shiller. If this does impact services revenue it would actually be worth looking at Cook's replacement more seriously
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrkevinfinnerty Avatar
9 weeks ago

IMO this ruling is meaningless. All this fuss over nothing. No one is going to leave the walled garden which offers the utmost in security, ease of use and convenience to go to some 3rd party and keep adding in different subscriptions with all these passwords everywhere that you will soon forget you have and keep paying monthly fees. I don’t even want to talk about your financial info going everywhere too. Also with those commission savings do you think Epic is going to reduce prices for the consumer? No way! They are keeping all that profit so again why would the consumer ever leave? Plus let Epic get a taste of all the logistics and customer service expenses required. They’ll be running back to Apple. This ruling is a complete non event. Have a great day!
Yeah nobody subscribes to any apps that require you to do so outside the app store.

Netflix, Spotify, Amazon prime, nobody uses them...
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
diddl14 Avatar
10 weeks ago
Wonder how many apps will make subscriptions 15-30% cheaper on their own store now that the Apple 'tax' is gone?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alexgowers Avatar
9 weeks ago
In my assessment it's your device and should be allowed to run any software you choose from any source, this case doesn't go far enough. Hopefully the EU can make some laws stick and open the store front too.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chungry Avatar
9 weeks ago

They would exist -- they'd just be working on other platforms.
Exactly. I'll never understand the position of the person you responded to. It's so obtuse and not rooted in reality.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)