As of May 20, 2025, Fortnite has officially returned to the US iOS App Store worldwide following a public back-and-forth between Epic Games and Apple.
It’s no secret Epic and Apple have been at arms for the past half-decade. It was August, 2020 when the game publisher pulled its massively popular Battle Royale from the iOS App Store in effort to take a stand against Apple’s commissions on in-app purchases like V-Bucks.
After a lengthy legal process, it was only on May 1, 2025 that Epic won out. Apple was ordered to stop imposing commissions on in-app purchases via web links. Though the public scuffle didn’t stop when the judge’s hammer fell.
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Despite promising Fortnite would return to the App Store within a week, Apple’s review process saw that didn’t happen. Though now, after even more back and forth in the public eye, peace has come to pass. Fortnite is indeed once again available on the App Store in the U.S.
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Fortnite finally returns on iOS App Store in the US
At the tail end of court proceedings, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple to have “outright lied under oath.” As such, the company was not only ordered to forego its commission on in-app purchases across the board, but Apple was even considered for criminal contempt.
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“Apple’s 15-30% junk fees are now just as dead here in the US as they are in Europe. Unlawful here, unlawful there,” Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said on X (formerly Twitter), declaring victory at the time.
Sweeney also assured Fortnite would return to the App Store within a week of the decision being announced. However, it didn’t all go according to plan.
Although Apple’s review process claims “90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours,” that wasn’t the case for Epic’s new submission of Fortnite. Nearly 120 hours passed before Epic was informed its resubmission had actually been blocked.
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“We cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union. Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it,” the official Fortnite account shared on social media.
For context, Epic removed all versions of Fortnite from review as the game had recently been met with a new update, changing seasonal content and the like. As Epic insists on all platforms having the exact same version of the game, it means having to resubmit a new version of the application for review by Apple.
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Apple fired back, claiming it asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update without including the US storefront so as to not impact Fortnite in other geographies. What ensued was another public tirade.
As of May 19, 2025, the judge said in a filing that Apple is “fully capable of resolving this issue without further briefing or a hearing.” Should that not have been the case, whoever at Apple was “responsible for ensuring compliance” would have been asked to attend another court hearing.
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Clearly, this legal threat worked out as Fortnite has indeed passed its resubmission and is now available on the US’ iOS App Store once again.
Epic GamesAs seen in the new version of Fortnite on iOS devices, players are incentivized to buy V-Bucks directly through Epic.
Furthermore, now that Fortnite is available on iOS devices, Epic is pushing players towards in-app purchases through its own means, rather than through Apple’s services. When looking to purchase V-Bucks in the game, fans can earn 20% back in Epic Rewards credit if they buy through Epic’s own method.
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