Apple blocked from halting App Store changes

Apple just lost a procedural fight that matters a lot more than it sounds. The fight is over whether iPhone apps in the U.S. can keep pointing users to outside payment options while Apple keeps appealing its loss to Epic Games. On April 28, a Ninth Circuit panel reversed its own earlier stay and let the mandate issue, which means the App Store changes ordered in the Epic case remain in force for now. Basically, Apple does not get to press pause while it heads toward the Supreme Court. (cdn2.unrealengine.com) ### What changed this week? The immediate news is narrow but powerful. Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit had granted Apple a stay of the mandate while Apple prepared a cert petition. Epic asked the court to reconsider. The panel agreed with Epic, reversed the April 6 stay order, and said the mandate should issue in the usual course. That strips Apple of a short-term shield it had won just weeks earlier. (cdn2.unrealengine.com) ### What is Apple being forced to allow? This is the anti-steering piece of the Epic fight. The courts have now repeatedly said Apple cannot stop developers from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action that send users to payment options outside Apple’s in-app purchase(cdn2.unrealengine.com)had a prohibitive effect and that Apple’s design restrictions made those links too hard to use. (cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov) ### Why did the court yank the stay? Because Apple did not clear the bar for getting one. The panel said Apple had not shown a substantial question likely to win Supreme Court review, had not shown a significant possibility of reversal, and had not shown irreparable harm if the case moved forward in the lower court while Apple soug(cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov)ut it is saying Apple has not earned a pause now. (cdn2.unrealengine.com) ### Where did this come from? This fight goes back to Epic’s 2020 lawsuit, but the current pressure comes from a later compliance battle. In April 2025, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple had willfully violated the original anti-steering injunction. Then, in December 2025, the Nint(cdn2.unrealengine.com) the court saying the remedy keeps moving while appeals continue. (cravath.com) ### Why does this matter for apps? Because payment routing is the money. If an app can send a user to a web checkout instead of Apple’s in-app purchase flow, the developer may avoid Apple’s standard cut on that transaction. For subscription apps, game publishers, and other digital sellers, even a(cravath.com)nd alternate purchase flows right now, not months later. (cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov) ### Does Apple still have options? Yes. Apple can still ask the Supreme Court to hear the case, and it can keep arguing over what commission, if any, is lawful for linked-out purchases. But the catch is timing. Those arguments now unfold without the protective pause Apple wanted. That means the district court can keep dealing with the remand issues while the cert effort plays out. (cdn2.unrealengine.com) ### Why is Epic treating this as a big win? Because procedural wins are real wins when they affect behavior immediately. Epic’s broader goal has been to break Apple’s control over in-app payments and user steering. Every month that outside links remain available is a month developers can(cdn2.unrealengine.com)put its own cash register by the door instead of sending every customer through the mall’s register first. (cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov) ### Bottom line Apple is still fighting. But for now, the courts are making it fight on a moving field. The App Store’s U.S. payment rules are changing in practice before the Supreme Court decides whether it wants this case at all. (cdn2.unrealengine.com)