Epic says its EU iOS app store is approved but that Apple wants a change

Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeThe Epic Games Store app for EU iPhones has passed Apple’s notarization process, putting the alternative app store a step closer to selling apps directly to iOS users outside of the App Store. AppleInsider...

JaneWalter JaneWalter
Jul 7, 2024 - 21:01
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Epic says its EU iOS app store is approved but that Apple wants a change

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The company has reportedly asked Epic to redesign the app’s buttons.

By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.

Jul 6, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

An illustration of the Epic Games logo.

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

The Epic Games Store app for EU iPhones has passed Apple’s notarization process, putting the alternative app store a step closer to selling apps directly to iOS users outside of the App Store. AppleInsider reports that while Apple confirmed the app had passed, it has asked Epic to “fix the buttons” in a future submission to the company’s app review process.

But the approval is just “temporary,” posted Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who puts Apple’s request differently. He says the company is “demanding we change the buttons in the next version,” vowing that the company will “fight this.” The apparently conditional approval is just the latest part of the back-and-forth saga between Apple and Epic. Previously, Apple reinstated Epic Games Sweden’s European developer license after EU regulators started investigating its decision to pull it.

Epic had submitted the store (along with Fortnite) to Apple’s iOS notarization process, which Apple requires for apps available outside the App Store in the EU, at the beginning of the month. Then it posted that Apple rejected the submission because the company felt the game store’s “in-app purchases” label and “Install” button hewed too closely to Apple’s “design and positioning” for its own similar features. (If that sounds familiar, maybe it’s because it’s not the only spat between the two that involves button design.)