A judge just blew up Apple’s control of the App Store

Epic Games v. Apple judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers just ruled that, effective immediately, Apple is no longer allowed to collect fees on purchases made outside apps and blocks the company from restricting how developers can point users to where they can make purchases outside of apps. Apple says it will appeal the order.

The ruling was issued as part of Epic Games’ ongoing legal dispute against Apple, and it’s a major victory for Epic’s arguments. Gonzalez Rogers also says that Apple “willfully” chose not to comply with her previous injunction from her original 2021 ruling. “That [Apple] thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation,” Gonzalez Rogers says.

The judge also referred the case to the US attorney to review it for possible criminal contempt proceedings.

As part of the ruling, the judge says that Apple cannot:

• Impose “any commission or any fee on purchases that consumers make outside an app”
• Restrict developers’ style, formatting, or placement of links for purchases outside of an app
• Block or limit the “use of buttons or other calls to action”
• Interfere with consumers’ choice to leave an app with anything beyond “a neutral message apprising users that they are going to a third-party site”

Apple’s senior director of corporate communications, Olivia Dalton, sent a statement to The Verge that reads, “We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court’s order and we will appeal.”