After a four-year-long legal battle with Apple, Epic Games announced this week that Fortnite will soon be coming back to iPhones — though only in the EU. When it does, not only will it be available on the Apple App Store but also through the new standalone Epic Games Store as well as third-party mobile stores like AltStore.
The EU will also be the first to get the Epic Games Store on iOS and Android later this year. Apple approved the Epic Games marketplace app for iOS iPadOS earlier in July, and Epic Games previously said it's targeting the second half of 2025 as a launch window in the UK.
"Fortnite will be returning to iOS in the European Union soon, and the Epic Games Store will be coming to Android worldwide and iOS in the European Union bringing all developers great terms: a store fee of 12% for payments we process, and 0% on third party payments," Epic Games said in a Thursday press release.
Epic and Apple's longstanding legal feud kicked off in 2020 after Fortnite was removed from the App Store for circumventing its policy to block developers from processing app payments outside of the App Store. Epic retaliated with a lawsuit, which forced a crack in Apple's walled garden to enable certain apps to allow external payments. In the EU, where the iPhone maker faces increasing antitrust scrutiny, regulators ruled its App Store practices violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law that effectively forces Apple (and any other platform owner, like Google) to allow third-party marketplaces to do business on their operating systems.
Epic yanks Fortnite from Galaxy Store over sideloading restrictions
Importantly, while iOS users will no doubt be happy to see Fortnite return, players with Samsung phones won't be as lucky. Epic Games also announced the popular battle royale game and other titles from Epic Library are set to leave "mobile stores that serve as rent collectors without competing robustly and serving all developers fairly."
That includes the Galaxy Store, a move Epic Games said was "in protest of Samsung's anticompetitive decision to block side-loading by default on Samsung Android devices, and as a result of public revelations in the US Epic v Google lawsuit of ongoing Google proposals to Samsung to restrain competition in the market for Android app distribution."
Last year, Samsung introduced Auto Blocker to its phones as a security measure to protect users from installing malware by preventing sideloading apps and downloads via USB cable, among other precautions. While Auto Blocker can be disabled in the Settings app, Epic seems to take issue with the fact that it's enabled by default, leading it to pull its library of games from Samsung's app store.
However, it's worth noting that with the Epic Games Store on the horizon, that should open up another avenue for Samsung phone owners to download their favorite Epic Games outside of the Galaxy Store.
