Apple will not be allowed to roll back the anti-steering changes it made to its App Store it was forced to make back in May while its appeal plays out, ruled the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday. This means that developers will continue to be bale to direct customers outside of the App Store for purchases and in-app content.
Once the ruling was made back in May, Apple filed an emergency motion with the appeals court, asking to delay implementing the new rules until it received a ruling on a full appeal of the ruling. The court ruled that after “reviewing the relevant factors” it has not been persuaded that a stay is appropriate.
Apple had argued that the original order was “extraordinary” and forced it to “give away free access” to Apple products and services. The Cupertino company said that it should not be prohibited from collecting commission on external purchase links and controlling the way those links look. Apple claimed that keeping the rules will cost it “hundreds of millions to billions” of dollars annually.
The App Store changes were the result of the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games that started back in 2020. Apple was ordered by the judge presiding over the case to allow developers to direct customers to web purchase options instead of using in-app purchases. Although Apple complied several years of appeals, it still charges 12 to 27% fees on developers who opted to do so and it also implemented strict rules around link styling.
Epic Games screamed about how Apple implemented things, and the judge agreed with Epic.
