An American federal judge has instructed Apple to remove limitations that had been placed on app developers' ability to guide users toward external payment methods. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' decision on April 30 is significant for developers of cryptocurrency applications working on the iOS platform.

The ruling emerged from Apple's ongoing legal dispute with Epic Games, which had contested the tech giant's App Store practices for being anti-competitive. A previous court ruling in 2021 had mandated Apple to permit developers to offer alternative payment options to their app users. However, Apple responded by implementing restrictive measures like warning messages and complex redirects to discourage users from straying away from its in-app purchase system, where it charges a 30% fee on transactions.

The court deemed these tactics unacceptable and stated that Apple cannot introduce new obstacles or fees for payments made outside the app. Following the ruling, Apple is now prohibited from imposing fees or creating obstacles for transactions conducted off the app platform.

Apple has revised its App Store Guidelines to allow developers to incorporate external payment links, subject to specific conditions. This change is a game-changer for crypto apps that were previously restricted by Apple's stringent environment.

This adjustment enables apps to accept direct payments with digital assets such as USDC, ETH, and SOL, bypassing Apple's system and evading the 30% commission. Additionally, iOS apps can now facilitate in-app purchases of NFTs, enhancing the user experience by eliminating the need to redirect users to external web browsers.

Developers remain cautious about the challenge presented by fiat-to-crypto onboarding, as while the new policy streamlines crypto usage post-asset acquisition, users must still undergo KYC procedures to acquire tokens.