Apple has officially updated the App Store Guidelines to comply with the injunction handed down yesterday in its legal case with Epic Games. According to the new App Store rules, “there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action.”
“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,” Apple said in an email to developers on Thursday night.
Here are the full changes to the App Store Guidelines with today’s revisions:
- 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.
The changes come after a scathing injunction from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers yesterday in the Epic Games v. Apple case. The judge determined that Apple “willfully chose not to comply” with the previous injunction in the case, which ordered the company to allow developers to steer users to external payment methods. Apple had attempted to charge a 27% commission on external purchases.
Multiple companies are already hard at work updating their apps to take advantage of these App Store changes. Music streaming service Spotify submitted a new version of its app earlier this afternoon with links to external payments and other changes.
“We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court’s order and we will appeal,” Apple said in a statement to 9to5Mac yesterday.
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