A US appeals court today rejected Apple's application to have its appeal to allow payments outside the Apple Store overturned. Earlier last month, the court ordered it to be done in the Epic Games v. Apple case trial that has been ongoing since 2020. Through it, Apple can no longer prevent app developers from giving users the option to make payments outside the App Store ecosystem.
Apple is also not allowed to collect payments if users make payments outside the App Store as is done in European Union (EU) countries. They are also no longer allowed to prevent developers from telling users there are alternative payment systems besides the App Store.
Apple's reason for overturning the order is that it prevents them from 'exercising control over aspects of their business operations' and forcing them to provide free access to the service. In an official statement, Apple said they were disappointed with the court's decision and would continue the appeal process.
This is a blow to Apple's control over the App Store ecosystem. Last April, Apple was fined €500 million by the European Commission (EC) because changes to the App Store they made were found to still not fully comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA).