Australian Court Orders Apple to Allow Rival App Stores by March 2027; Fortnite Returns

Apple has been ordered to let iPhone users in Australia download apps from rival app stores and directly from the web, and to let developers offer alternative payment methods, starting March 1, 2027. Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach issued the orders on Thursday, October 22, in Epic Games’ long-running case against Apple, The Verge and ABC News report.

The ruling is the remedy phase of the case. In August 2025, the same court found that Apple and Google had misused their market power in how they ran their app stores. Thursday’s judgment, Epic Games, Inc v Apple Inc (No 2) [2026] FCA 1552, sets out what Apple now has to change.

What the orders require

From March 1, 2027, Apple must allow users in Australia to get apps outside the App Store, including through competing app marketplaces and direct downloads from websites. Developers will also be able to use alternative payment systems. According to AAP, sideloaded apps and third-party stores will still have to pass certain security checks, so Apple keeps some say over what gets installed.

ABC News puts the number of affected Australian Apple users at roughly 15 million. In his reasons, Justice Beach said Apple had breached the Competition and Consumer Act through an “intricate web of terms and technical measures,” and ordered the company to pay 85 percent of Epic’s legal costs from the trial.

Fortnite comes back first

Fortnite doesn’t have to wait until 2027. The court ordered Apple to readmit Fortnite and Epic’s other apps to the Australian App Store once Epic asks in writing, and ABC News reports the game is back in the store as of Friday, ending a hiatus that began in 2020, when Epic added its own payment system to get around Apple’s commission. As The Verge notes, Australia was one of the last holdouts after Fortnite’s return in other markets.

Australia joins the EU, Japan and Brazil, which have already forced Apple to open iOS to other app stores in some form.

Apple plans to appeal

Apple isn’t accepting the ruling quietly. “We respectfully disagree with many findings in this case, including a market definition that has been rejected by other courts,” a spokesperson told AAP. “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.”

If a court grants that stay, the March 2027 start date could slip. For now, Australian iPhone owners get Fortnite back right away, while the bigger changes to app distribution and payments are on a roughly four-month clock that Apple will try to stop.

Sources: The Verge, ABC News, AAP, Australian Competition Law case summary