May 5th, 2025

Court Finds Apple Violated Order, Resulting in Key Changes for iOS External Purchase Methods

On April 30, 2025, the Northern District of California immediately and permanently enjoined Apple’s External Purchase Link entitlement programs and its restrictions for apps offered on the United States storefront. Apple announced the following day that it has updated its App Review Guidelines as follows:

The App Review Guidelines have been updated for compliance with a United States court decision regarding buttons, external links, and other calls to action in apps. These changes affect apps distributed on the United States storefront of the App Store, and are as follows:

3.1.1: Apps on the United States storefront are not prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action when allowing users to browse NFT collections owned by others.

3.1.1(a): On the United States storefront, there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, and no entitlement is required to do so.

3.1.3: The prohibition on encouraging users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase does not apply on the United States storefront.

3.1.3(a): The External Link Account entitlement is not required for apps on the United States storefront to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action.

Prior to the April 30th ruling, Apple had imposed a 27% commission on all purchases made outside of Apple’s in-app payment processing system through its “External Purchase Link” entitlement programs. This program set out required tools for developers to offer external payment methods, subject to Apple’s 27% cut and various prohibitions on the how developers linked consumers to external payment methods.

In light of this ruling, Apple now is prohibited from imposing its 27% commission on purchases made outside of the app environment, restricting how developers direct their users outside of the app environment (including transparency on low prices on external webstores and pre-populating in product information or other purchase details in webstores, for example), and interfering with a consumer’s choice to proceed outside of the app environment in any means other than a natural message notifying users they are existing the app. These changes to the App Review Guidelines are only applicable to apps distributed on the United States storefront.

Read the Frankfurt Kurnit Technology Law blog post for more information.

If you have questions about the court ruling or about other interactive entertainment issues, please contact S. Gregory Boyd at (212) 826 5581 or gboyd@fkks.com, Sean F. Kane at (212) 705-4845 or skane@fkks.com, Emma C. Smizer at (310) 579-9570 or esmizer@fkks.com or any other member of the Frankfurt Kurnit Interactive Entertainment Group.