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Epic Games CEO blasts Apple for giving ‘temporary’ approval for iOS app

Tim Sweeney says Apple's demands for full approval "would make our store less standard and harder to use"

Epic Games CEO blasts Apple for giving ‘temporary’ approval for iOS app

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has criticized Apple over the approval process for the iOS app it’s developing for Europe.

On X (Twitter), Sweeney said Apple “unrejected” Epic’s app after two rejections over concerns that the companies’ respective ‘Install’ and ‘In-app purchases’ labels are too similar. However, in a subsequent X post, Sweeney said Apple’s approval was only “temporary,” with the iPhone maker supposedly now demanding that Epic “change the buttons in the next version” of its app. Sweeney concluded by saying that Epic will “fight” Apple’s latest ruling.

He argues this “would make our store less standard and harder to use.” On July 5th, Epic said in an official X post that its ‘Install’ and ‘In-app purchases’ are using the same conventions for names and labels as other iOS apps. “We’re just trying to build a store that mobile users can easily understand, and the disclosure of in-app purchases is a regulatory best practice followed by all stores nowadays,” argued Epic.

This followed changes to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) earlier this year, which required Apple to allow third-party marketplaces on the App Store. Following that announcement, Epic unveiled plans to launch its own app store on both iOS and Android later in 2024.

Last week, the Fortnite maker reiterated plans to launch the storefront later this year, “barring further roadblocks from Apple.”

Image credit: Epic Games

Source: Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic)

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