Fortnite is back on the iPhone App Store in Australia. Epic Games said the game returns on Thursday, after a federal court ordered Apple to open up iOS and found the company violated competition law.
Australia was the only country still without the game on the App Store. Apple told Reuters it disagrees with many of the court’s findings and will request a stay and appeal, aiming for a result that “respects our intellectual property.”
Fortnite sat out Australia for five months while Epic waited on the court
Epic returned Fortnite to the App Store in every other country on May 19, 2026. In its announcement, the company said it could not come back to Australia under what it called an illegal payment arrangement with Apple, and that it would wait for a court decision unless Apple adopted lawful payment terms. Australia stayed without the game until the court handed down its orders.
Fortnite returned to the US App Store in 2025 with third-party payments intact, ending a nearly five-year absence that began in August 2020 when Apple pulled the game over Epic’s direct payment option.
The Australian case reached this point in stages. Justice Jonathan Beach ruled in August 2025 that Apple had misused its market power over app distribution and in-app payments. The latest orders decide what Apple has to do about it.
The order to readmit Epic’s apps starts now, while the rest waits until March 2027
The court’s order covers Fortnite and other eligible Epic Games apps, and it takes effect immediately instead of on the later compliance date. Apple has to act once Epic submits a written application, and the apps still have to meet the App Store’s developer rules.
The broader orders start on March 1, 2027 and apply to the Australian App Store and to users with an Australian Apple Account. Apple has to allow the following.
- Rival app stores and direct app downloads on the iPhone
- Payment services other than Apple’s in-app purchase system, including inside App Store apps
- Buttons and links inside apps that point users to other ways to pay
- Lower prices through other payment methods, with no fees for using alternative distribution channels
Apple keeps its security checks, so apps distributed outside the App Store still need to pass an automated scan and be notarized, and Apple does not have to host rival stores inside its own App Store. The judge also refused Epic’s request to extend the orders worldwide.
Apple wants a stay, though the Epic order sits outside any delay
Apple can apply between February 1 and February 15, 2027 to push the March start date back to May 3, 2027, subject to the court’s approval. That delay would not apply to the order readmitting Epic’s apps. Apple has also said it will seek a stay while it appeals, so the timeline could still move.
The injunctions have no end date, though Apple can ask the court to change or drop them if circumstances shift materially. Apple must also pay 85 percent of Epic’s costs up to the end of the liability trial.
