Apple returned to the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco on Tuesday to contest an order that forces it to open the App Store to links for cheaper payment options. The hearing puts a five-year fight with Epic Games back in front of the same three-judge panel that upheld the court’s 2021 decision.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is appealing an April ruling by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that found the company “willfully” defied her 2021 injunction. That order blocks Apple from charging commissions on purchases made outside the App Store and limits how Apple can restrict developers from steering users to the web.
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What’s at stake
For you, if you build or use apps, the stakes are simple. The court is deciding whether Apple can collect commissions when developers send customers to their own sites and how much control Apple can exert over link placement and design. Apple previously let developers add links, then set a new 27 percent commission on off-store sales, which Epic called a violation of the 2021 injunction.
Apple does not break out App Store revenue, though it said it “facilitated” more than 400 billion dollars in developer sales in 2024. Appfigures estimated Apple generated 10 billion dollars in the U.S. from the App Store that year.
How we got here
After the 2021 trial, Judge Gonzalez Rogers largely sided with Apple on federal antitrust claims but found a violation of California law and ordered Apple to allow links to cheaper payment options. The Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that directive. In April, after weeks of hearings, the judge said Apple “willfully” violated her order and referred the matter to federal prosecutors for a possible criminal probe.
Developers have already moved
Epic, Amazon, and Spotify now direct users to buy outside the App Store. In June, the appeals court declined to pause the April ruling during Apple’s appeal.
What’s next
The case, Epic Games Inc. v. Apple Inc., No. 25-2935, will decide how far Apple can go in controlling the App Store while it faces a separate Justice Department antitrust suit and new European rules. You should expect ripple effects across pricing, design, and how you pay inside apps.
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