Fortnite Set for Australian App Store Return as Court Orders Apple to Open iOS

A quick return for Fortnite, a longer deadline for Apple

Fortnite is set to return to Apple's Australian App Store after the Federal Court ordered the company to readmit eligible Epic Games apps and open its iOS system to competing app stores and payment services. Most of the wider changes must be in place by March 1, 2027.

Justice Jonathan Beach's 235-page remedies decision follows the August 12, 2025 judgment in Epic Games, Inc v Apple Inc [2025] FCA 900, which found that Apple misused its market power by restricting app distribution and payments inside apps. The new orders turn that finding into requirements affecting how Australians download software and pay for digital content.

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, announced the game's planned return in a statement dated October 22, 2026. The company said:

Fortnite is coming back to the App Store in Australia tomorrow.

Fortnite's readmission operates on a different timetable from the broader changes. Apple must act on a written application from Epic for eligible apps, subject to applicable developer rules. The game therefore has a route back through Apple's existing store before competing distribution channels must be available.

Apple said it disagreed with many of the findings and would request a stay and appeal. A stay would pause the operation of orders while the legal challenge proceeds. The next practical steps are Epic's submission of compliant apps, Apple's response and any court decision on pausing the requirements.

What the court found Apple did wrong

Justice Beach found that Apple held substantial market power in two markets: distributing iOS apps and providing payment services for purchases inside those apps. Its developer agreements and App Store rules restricted competition in both.

Section 46 of Australia's Competition and Consumer Act 2010 prohibits a company with substantial market power from engaging in conduct that has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially reducing competition. In simple terms, a powerful business cannot use restrictions that seriously weaken the ability of other businesses to compete.

Apple's restrictions included preventing downloads outside the App Store, requiring developers to use Apple's payment system and blocking links to other ways to pay. The court also examined rules requiring developers to make content bought elsewhere available through Apple's purchasing system and preventing developers from handling refunds directly.

Fortnite's removal in 2020 formed part of that finding. Epic introduced its own payment option, Epic Direct Pay, allowing purchases that bypassed Apple's payment service and commission. Apple removed Fortnite and subsequently terminated Epic's developer account.

Justice Beach described those enforcement actions as:

a paradigm example of Apple's enforcement of its restrictive terms, in contravention of

The judge was referring to section 46. Apple and Google also defeated other allegations in the joint trial, including claims concerning prohibited exclusive dealing, anticompetitive arrangements and unconscionable conduct, a legal term for conduct so harsh that it goes against good conscience.

How Australians will be able to download apps

Australian Apple Account holders must be allowed to install apps from competing marketplaces and directly from developer websites. Installing an app outside the platform owner's store is commonly called sideloading.

For users, that creates additional places to discover, download and update software. For developers, it creates a route to customers that does not depend entirely on acceptance into Apple's own marketplace.

The orders also require Apple to provide the developer tools and application programming interfaces needed for alternative distribution on substantially the same terms as those available for App Store apps. These interfaces let software communicate with features of the operating system.

Apple faces restrictions on fees and conditions that would make competing distribution channels harder to use. It must also avoid obstructing users who choose those channels. Giving a rival store technical permission to operate is only part of the change; developers also need working access to the tools that make distribution possible.

Competing marketplaces will not have to be distributed through Apple's own App Store. Instead, Apple must allow them to operate through other permitted routes on iOS.

Payments will open to more competition

Developers will be able to use payment providers other than Apple, including inside apps distributed through the App Store. They will also be able to direct customers to external purchasing options and offer lower prices outside Apple's payment system.

Apple cannot require a developer to offer Apple's purchasing service alongside a preferred alternative. The orders also prohibit Apple from requiring developers to report transactions processed through alternative payment providers and place limits on fees connected with external payments.

Restrictions on links to other purchasing options are often called anti-steering rules. Removing them means an app can tell a customer where another payment option is available, rather than keeping that information outside the app.

The financial stakes are substantial. The litigation examined commissions of between 15% and 30% of sales revenue collected by Apple and Google. On a purchase worth A$10, those rates amount to A$1.50 or A$3.00. Developers choosing another payment service would face that provider's charges instead.

Customers could benefit if developers pass savings into lower prices. Developers could also use savings to support their businesses. The orders create room for those choices, while the prices of individual games, subscriptions and digital purchases will remain decisions for the businesses selling them.

Security checks remain, with limits

Apple argued that its restrictions protected users from security risks. Justice Beach acknowledged legitimate security concerns but found that the benefits of Apple's approach did not remove the harm to competition.

The remedies permit Apple to retain security scanning and notarization for apps distributed outside its store. Notarization is a checking process that allows Apple to examine software before it runs on a device.

Security requirements must be proportionate to identified risks. The decision also limits Apple's ability to disable apps obtained outside the App Store and addresses barriers that could make alternative installation or payments unnecessarily difficult.

An Apple spokesperson said the company would challenge the result:

We will request a stay and appeal the outcome to seek a resolution that respects our intellectual property and protects the safe, secure experience that consumers and developers expect from the App Store.

Apple's proposed appeal leaves the court to consider its objections and any request for a pause. The remedies currently set out both an immediate route for Epic's eligible apps and a later deadline for the wider technical changes.

Australian accounts, developers worldwide

The court rejected Epic's request for worldwide injunctions. The orders instead focus on services supplied to people with Australian Apple Accounts.

Developers enrolled in Apple's developer program and payment providers around the world can participate in the Australian opening. A developer based outside Australia could therefore use the new distribution or payment routes to serve Australian customers.

The orders have no fixed expiry date. They establish continuing requirements rather than a temporary trial, subject to subsequent court decisions.

Epic welcomed the outcome in terms that reflected both sides of that geographic scope. The company described it as:

great news for developers worldwide and iOS users in Australia who will benefit from an open mobile app ecosystem.

Apple was also ordered to pay 85% of Epic's legal costs from the original trial. The court reserved its decision on costs associated with the later hearings over remedies. Legal costs cover the expense of bringing the case, separately from any compensation sought by consumers or developers.

The dates that determine what happens next

The dispute began with Fortnite's removal in 2020 and has moved through a finding of unlawful conduct to orders setting out how Apple must change its business practices. The key stages are:

• 2020: Fortnite was removed from Apple's and Google's stores after Epic introduced its own payment option.
• August 12, 2025: Justice Beach found that Apple and Google misused market power in app distribution and payment services.
• October 22, 2026: Epic announced that Fortnite would return to the Australian App Store the following day.
• Immediately under the readmission order: Apple must act on Epic's written application for eligible apps, subject to applicable developer rules.
• February 15, 2027: Apple has a deadline to submit evidence seeking an extension of the main implementation timetable.
• March 1, 2027: Most requirements for alternative distribution and payments must take effect.
• May 3, 2027: A possible extended deadline, subject to court approval.

Apple can seek extra time if it is not ready by February 1, 2027, with supporting evidence due by February 15. The court must approve any move to the May deadline.

Fortnite's announcement is a statement of a planned return. Its immediate practical route is the readmission process, while the March deadline concerns the broader opening of iOS to competing services.

Compensation remains unresolved

Related class actions concern purchases made between November 2017 and June 2022 and cover about 15 million consumers and 150,000 developers. Those proceedings were heard alongside the Epic cases because they raised similar competition issues.

The latest decisions formalized findings of unlawful conduct but left compensation unresolved. The court declined to find that any particular developer or user had been overcharged. No payment amount or distribution date has been set.

Joel Phibbs, a principal at law firm Phi Finney McDonald, earlier described potential compensation as:

likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

That was the lawyer's estimate. The compensation process still requires a calculation of financial loss, including what customers and developers would have paid if the unlawful restrictions had not operated.

Google's position has also changed since the August 2025 judgment. Epic's proceeding against Google was later settled and discontinued. The latest requirements to readmit Fortnite and open iOS are directed at Apple, while the related class actions have their own unresolved compensation questions.

The Bottom Line

• Epic announced Fortnite's planned return to the Australian App Store after an order requiring Apple to readmit eligible apps.
• Most wider changes to iOS distribution and payments are due by March 1, 2027.
• Australian Apple Account holders must gain access to competing app stores, direct downloads and alternative payment options.
• Apple may retain proportionate security checks and does not have to carry rival marketplaces inside its own App Store.
• Developers and payment providers worldwide can participate, but the court rejected worldwide injunctions.
• Apple plans to seek a stay and appeal. Compensation in the related class actions remains unresolved.