An Australian federal judge has ordered Apple to open the iPhone to alternative app stores, direct downloads from websites and third-party payment systems. The obligation takes effect on 1 March 2027 and applies only to users with an Australian Apple Account. Fortnite and Epic Games’ other apps, on the other hand, must be allowed back onto the local App Store immediately, as soon as Epic makes a written request.
Apple has already said it will ask for the ruling to be stayed and will appeal.
What has to change
The ruling is by Justice Jonathan Beach and closes the remedies phase of Epic Games’ case against Apple. In 2025 the same court found that Apple had abused its market power in the distribution of iOS apps and in in-app payments. Now come the concrete obligations:
- Alternative stores and sideloading: Apple must remove the restrictions that prevent apps being distributed outside the App Store, whether through rival marketplaces or directly from developers’ websites.
- Developer tools: access to the necessary tools must be offered on terms substantially equivalent to those for developers publishing on the App Store.
- Alternative payments: developers will be able to use external payment systems, including inside apps distributed through the App Store, and add links to external purchase sites.
- Commissions: Apple will not be able to charge commission on transactions made through apps distributed outside its store.
Apple can ask to postpone the deadline: between 1 and 15 February 2027 it may submit a reasoned request, and the court could move the date to 3 May 2027. A delay is not automatic.
What Apple gets to keep
The picture is not entirely in Epic’s favour. The judge rejected the request to extend the obligations worldwide: they apply only to the Australian App Store and to accounts registered in the country. Apple can also keep security and notarisation checks on apps distributed elsewhere, but only if they are necessary and proportionate, and they cannot be used to obstruct competing distributors.
The court also did not require Apple to host rival stores inside its own App Store. Finally, it rejected the request to cap the remedies at five years: they can be changed or revoked only if circumstances change. Apple must also pay 85% of the legal costs Epic incurred in the main proceedings.
Fortnite returns, but the store doesn’t (for now)
The only part with immediate effect concerns Epic. Apple must do whatever is necessary to readmit Fortnite and the company’s other eligible apps, which were removed in August 2020 after the introduction of a direct payment system. Epic has said the game will return to the Australian App Store shortly; for the Epic Games Store, CEO Tim Sweeney has not given a date.
What about Italy?
For iPhone users in Italy, nothing changes today. The ruling has no effect outside Australia. European Union users, by contrast, already have alternative stores and external payments thanks to the Digital Markets Act, which Apple has long had to comply with.
What we think
The ruling is interesting above all for two details: the ban on commissions on transactions outside the App Store and the absence of an expiry date for the remedies. The court explicitly limits the conditions and costs that could discourage competition, and this narrows Apple’s room for manoeuvre. It is also a precedent for other countries where similar cases are under way.
A great deal of uncertainty remains, though. The appeal and the request for a stay could delay everything, and 1 March 2027 is still a long way off. It also remains to be seen how Apple applies the security checks it is allowed to keep: if they stay light-touch, alternative stores will have a real chance; if they become an obstacle, the dispute will simply be postponed.
For Australian users, the most tangible benefit will be the ability to choose where to buy apps, and perhaps to pay less. For Apple, it is another market where the model built on commissions from in-app payments is being called into question.
Written by the SpazioiTech newsroom with the help of AI tools, from facts verified across at least two independent outlets, and checked before publication. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Translated from the Italian original. Read in Italian
