The crypto circle (120bTC.coM): A recent ruling from a U.S. court has put significant pressure on Apple, forcing the tech giant to relax payment regulations in the App Store and allowing developers in the U.S. to guide users to conduct transactions outside the app.
This move symbolizes the beginning of the loosening of Apple's closed payment policy and represents a significant breakthrough for NFT and Crypto Assets applications.
Epic Lawsuit Continues, Court Rules Apple "Willfully Violated Injunction"
This reform is due to the ongoing multi-year antitrust lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games(, the well-known developer of the game "Fortnite"). As early as 2021, a U.S. court ordered that Apple cannot prohibit developers from placing links in their apps that direct users to complete payments outside the App Store, nor can it take a commission on such transactions.
However, Apple introduced a new policy in 2024 that nominally allows external payments but still imposes fees of up to 27% on these transactions, along with numerous restrictions. The court deemed this "a form of violation," and therefore, on April 30, 2025, ruled that Apple intentionally violated the previous injunction and ordered it to immediately correct its policy.
The external payment button is officially open in the United States
In response to a court order, Apple recently sent an email to developers announcing an update to the App Store guidelines. According to the new regulations, applications on the US App Store are no longer prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, allowing users to navigate to websites for payment without needing to go through Apple's built-in purchasing system (IAP).
This change allows users to break free from the Apple ecosystem and freely choose their payment methods; developers also do not have to pay an additional 27% cut, which is a significant relief on operational costs. Many large iOS applications have also launched promotional offers for U.S. users as a result.
Favourable Information for NFT and Web3 Apps
In addition, prior to this policy easing, Web3 applications such as NFT trading platform apps could only allow users to browse NFT collections and could not provide purchasing functions. Now, developers can finally add "buy" or "go to official website to purchase" guide buttons in the app, which is a significant Favourable Information for user experience and conversion rates.
Farcaster software engineer Wojciech Kulikowski pointed out in a post that this move could trigger a "generational consumer encryption bull market" and open up more experimental space, allowing crypto-native mobile applications that have often been blocked by Apple's App Store to have a chance to return to the stage.
Challenges Remain, Apple Plans to Appeal
However, this "relaxation" still has obvious boundaries. For example, Apple still prohibits the execution of crypto asset mining within apps, the issuance of tokens ( ICO ), or rewarding users with crypto assets through task completion; these restrictions have not changed.
In addition, Apple has stated that it will appeal the court's ruling, which also means that whether the new policy will exist long-term is still uncertain. This opening is only limited to the United States, and developers and users in other countries must still adhere to the previous closed policy.
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Apple eases App Store policies! Favourable Information for Crypto Assets, NFT, and Web3 Apps may be on the way.
The crypto circle (120bTC.coM): A recent ruling from a U.S. court has put significant pressure on Apple, forcing the tech giant to relax payment regulations in the App Store and allowing developers in the U.S. to guide users to conduct transactions outside the app.
This move symbolizes the beginning of the loosening of Apple's closed payment policy and represents a significant breakthrough for NFT and Crypto Assets applications.
Epic Lawsuit Continues, Court Rules Apple "Willfully Violated Injunction"
This reform is due to the ongoing multi-year antitrust lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games(, the well-known developer of the game "Fortnite"). As early as 2021, a U.S. court ordered that Apple cannot prohibit developers from placing links in their apps that direct users to complete payments outside the App Store, nor can it take a commission on such transactions.
However, Apple introduced a new policy in 2024 that nominally allows external payments but still imposes fees of up to 27% on these transactions, along with numerous restrictions. The court deemed this "a form of violation," and therefore, on April 30, 2025, ruled that Apple intentionally violated the previous injunction and ordered it to immediately correct its policy.
The external payment button is officially open in the United States
In response to a court order, Apple recently sent an email to developers announcing an update to the App Store guidelines. According to the new regulations, applications on the US App Store are no longer prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, allowing users to navigate to websites for payment without needing to go through Apple's built-in purchasing system (IAP).
This change allows users to break free from the Apple ecosystem and freely choose their payment methods; developers also do not have to pay an additional 27% cut, which is a significant relief on operational costs. Many large iOS applications have also launched promotional offers for U.S. users as a result.
Favourable Information for NFT and Web3 Apps
In addition, prior to this policy easing, Web3 applications such as NFT trading platform apps could only allow users to browse NFT collections and could not provide purchasing functions. Now, developers can finally add "buy" or "go to official website to purchase" guide buttons in the app, which is a significant Favourable Information for user experience and conversion rates.
Farcaster software engineer Wojciech Kulikowski pointed out in a post that this move could trigger a "generational consumer encryption bull market" and open up more experimental space, allowing crypto-native mobile applications that have often been blocked by Apple's App Store to have a chance to return to the stage.
Challenges Remain, Apple Plans to Appeal
However, this "relaxation" still has obvious boundaries. For example, Apple still prohibits the execution of crypto asset mining within apps, the issuance of tokens ( ICO ), or rewarding users with crypto assets through task completion; these restrictions have not changed.
In addition, Apple has stated that it will appeal the court's ruling, which also means that whether the new policy will exist long-term is still uncertain. This opening is only limited to the United States, and developers and users in other countries must still adhere to the previous closed policy.