Apple has updated its App Review Guidelines to comply with Wednesday’s ruling in the legal dispute between the company and Epic Games over Apple restricting developers’ ability to inform their app users about in-app purchasing alternatives to the App Store in-app purchases system.
Apple summarized the changes in an email to developers sent on Thursday:
3.1.1: Apps on the United States storefront are not prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action when allowing users to browse NFT collections owned by others.
3.1.1(a): On the United States storefront, there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, and no entitlement is required to do so.
3.1.3: The prohibition on encouraging users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase does not apply on the United States storefront.
3.1.3(a): The External Link Account entitlement is not required for apps on the United States storefront to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Wednesday ruled that Apple has violated a court order to better promote competition by opening up its App Store to outside payment options.
Gonzalez Rogers has ordered Apple to make changes to its App Store, including banning Apple from charging commisisons on purchases made outside of the store. The company must immediately comply with the judge’s ruling, even though it will appeal the ruling.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on Wednesday said that the company’s popular game, Fortnite will return to the U.S. App Store next week. He also offered what he called a “peace proposal,” promising to bring Fortnite back to the iOS platform worldwide if Apple follows certain steps.
In the wake of the court ruling and with Apple’s policy changes, many major developers are already making moves to make it easier for users to purchase or subscribe to content outside of the App Store. Spotify has already submitted an app update, and Patreon has indicated they will follow suit.
