Court judgement: Apple must enable free purchases outside of apps

Samuel Buchmann

2/5/2025

Translation: machine translated

In 2021, a US court ruled that Apple must enable transactions outside of apps. Tim Cook then introduced a new fee on off-app purchases. Now the judge has blown her top.

Huge defeat for Apple: The District Court of Northern California prohibits the iPhone manufacturer from collecting fees for purchases outside of apps with immediate effect. Apple may also no longer make it difficult for developers to direct users to external sites in any other way.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' ruling is part of the legal dispute between Apple and Epic Games. In 2021 she ruled that Apple did not violate antitrust law with its 30 per cent fee for in-app purchases. But the court ordered Apple to remove its «anti-steering rules». In plain language: as long as you buy something in the app, Apple can continue to treat itself to 30 per cent of the revenue. But app developers should also be able to steer you to external sites to avoid this fee.

According to Gonzalez Rogers, Apple has deliberately defied this judgement. Although the Californians now allow redirects to so-called off-app purchases, they introduced a fee of 27 per cent on these and erected further hurdles. This undermines the 2021 agreement.

No more room for manoeuvre for «insubordination»

In her scathing reasons for the judgement, the judge finds clear words: «The fact that Apple thought the court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation.» The company had tried to secure its illegal source of income. CEO Tim Cook had a choice between complying with the court order and paying an unjustified fee. «Cook chose poorly.»

If the judgement is not overturned by the next instance, Gonzalez Rogers is likely to be right. The original agreement from 2021 would have loosened Apple's control over the App Store relatively little, as it was vaguely worded. The judge even explicitly allowed a fee for off-app purchases - but only with a comprehensible explanation.

Tim Cook obviously didn't take the latter too seriously. Despite internal concerns from App Store boss Phil Schiller, he gave his blessing to the 27 per cent fee on off-app purchases. In court, Apple had no reasonable justification for the high commission. It de facto destroys any incentive for developers to steer their users out of the app. But Cupertino went even further: it restricted the formatting of external links and added a full-screen warning when users clicked on them.

Gonzalez Rogers writes that Apple's vice president of finance, Alex Roman, simply lied to her in 2024 at a hearing on the new off-app fee «» . Roman stated on the record at the time that Apple had not yet decided on the amount of 27 per cent. However, internal documents showed that this was already the case in July 2023.

Now Tim Cook and his colleagues are getting their comeuppance. The new judgement is significantly tougher than the old one. It leaves no more room for fees or scaremongering. Apple is no longer allowed to:

• Charging commissions or fees for purchases made by consumers outside of an app
• Restrict the style, formatting or placement of links for purchases outside of an app by developers
• Block or restrict the use of buttons or other «calls to action»
• impair the decision of consumers to leave an app. Only a «neutral message indicating that you are visiting a third-party website» is still permitted.

Apple spokeswoman Olivia Dalton writes in a statement to «The Verge» that the company strongly disagrees with the judgement. Apple will implement it, but will appeal.

Epic Games and Spotify rejoice

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, was delighted with the judgement. He promised that «Fortnite» will be available again in the App Store in the USA as early as next week. His additional «peace offering»: If Apple implements the new policy worldwide, Epic Games will also return its game to the App Store worldwide - and drop all current and future lawsuits against Apple on the topic, he said.

Spotify submitted an update to its iOS app shortly after the ruling, which has since been approved by Apple. US users can now see the prices for the streaming service in the app and can then take out a plan directly via a link to an external page. In a blog post, the company writes: «'The fact that we have not been able to deliver these basic services so far is absurd.»

EU strikes in the same breach

The District Court of Northern California opens the door for app developers to effectively circumvent the fee for in-app purchases. The judgement threatens Apple with a painful drop in revenue. Global revenue from the App Store is estimated at around 30 billion US dollars. And the «Apple Tax» is not only under fire in the USA.

The European Union is also insisting on the appropriate implementation of its steering regulations. Apple was fined 500 million euros last week for inadequate implementation to date. The EU rules are not as specific as those of the US court. However, they should also make it easier for app developers to direct users to external sites.

Samuel Buchmann

Senior Editor

Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.ch

My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.

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