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Apple has officially reinstated Fortnite on the US App Store, allowing you to download it to your iPhone or iPad for the first time in over four years. Epic Games also revived the game in markets like Europe after it had to pull the game last week.
Fortnite has been at the center of a legal battle between the two companies. Epic Games has been fighting to avoid the 30% tax Apple takes on revenue made from in-app purchases. In 2020, Epic Games tried to circumvent Apple's rules, which led to Fortnite being removed from the App Store. The developer then sued Apple.
In late April, Apple was forced to change its rules on the App Store and allow developers to include alternative payment options in the US for the first time. Since then, we've seen changes to apps from Amazon, Spotify, and more.
Epic Games is the latest to change, and those who use Epic's payment method will get 20% cashback on that purchase through the company's Rewards program. Epic Games said, "You can spend your rewards in Fortnite and our other games, or on the Epic Games Store when you use Epic’s payment system."
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said, "Thanks to everyone who supported the effort to open up mobile competition and #FreeFortnite from the very beginning. And thanks to all of the folks who initially sided with Apple, then later came around to the winning side, supporting app developer rights and consumer rights."
You’ll need to search to find the game in the App Store; it's also in the number one spot in the Action Games category as of this writing. Apple is unlikely to promote it.
As reported by the Fortnite Mobile News account on X, some Apple devices allow you to download Fortnite from the App Store but won't run the game because the device doesn't have enough RAM. Those devices include the iPhone SE Gen 2, iPhone XR, iPad mini 5, iPad Air 3, and the standard iPad generation six through nine.
Epic Games submitted the game to Apple's App Store approval process on May 9. When it didn't get a response by May 19, the developer appealed to the US judge who made the original decision to force Apple to change its rules. Judge Gonzalez Rogers said Apple needed to show the "legal authority upon which Apple contends that it can ignore this Court’s order."
Apple, which reportedly generated over $10 billion from App Store payments in 2024, has appealed the judge's original decision; a decision on that is expected before May 28.